Gate Way of Life
by RockBane
Summary: Kouichi and the others find themselves working with Takato. Takato's now a Digimon and the only times he speaks with Guilmon when he sleeps. Calamon makes a friend in Lucemon. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 1

He hears voices and he tries to focus on them. "I don't know about this. If he's so dangerous, why not just delete him? Why tie him up?" The girl voice asks. "Orphanimon asked us to take him alive. We might get answers from him. By the time we get back, we might be there to greet the Chosen; I know that Agunimon and them can't wait to see them again. It's been a year since we last saw them." The male voice says. "You think that the three Angels will let them become spirits again? I think that I hear Kazemon ask that to Seraphinmon." "Who knows? I think the chosen might enjoy that. I just wonder how much they have changed."

He now decides to ask something, only to find that he can for he found that he couldn't. It was then that he began to look for Guilmon. It was then that he also got a look at the Digimon who tied him up. He spies a green Digimon with mirrors on him, the girl voice belonged to a green skin girl with blue armor.

They turn to find him awake. They look at him, and then they just ignore him. He flicks his tail. _'Wait tail?'_ He turns to look over behind him. What he eyes just makes him want to faint. He has a tail! HE HAS A TAIL! Then he looks at his shoulders to find wings. They were tied as well; it was then did he remember Bio Merging with Guilmon to fight that other Knight Digimon. He just tries to take it in. _'Ok, calm down, Takato. This just has to be a dream. That's it, right? This just has to be a dream because if it's real then I'm a, … I'm … a … Digimon… This can be happening! I'm a human! How come I'm a Digimon? If I'm a Digimon, then where's Guilmon's voice? Damn it, I need answers! Just what is going on!'_

------------------------------------

He just sat with his twin as they ride the Trailmon. It was still odd, even after a year, to be part of Kouji's live. It was also new to be on a trailmon, and going to the Digital World. The last time he was there only as a spirit.

Now here he was with Kouji and the others, on their way to the Digital World. The message said that it was under attack. Plus that they revived a warning about a powerful Digimon that was coming today. They all hope that they were in time to help. They just don't know how they could help.

He just signs and looks at the group of Digidestine with him. He looks at Takuya, who still sports his hat and goggle combo. He has a red T-shirt with that same brand name on the front and he was wearing black jeans. His pack was on the rack above his head. Now 13 years old, Takuya has grown a bit taller.

Next it was Tommy. He was now sporting a light blue ball cap instead of the large orange hat he wore last year. Tommy was also was wearing a white T-shirt with a snow flack on the front of the T-shirt and was wearing blue shorts. Tommy was now 9 years old. His pack was by his side. He was sitting with Zoe.

Zoe was wearing a pink and purple long sleeve shirt and was wearing purple pants. The cap she wore last year was still her favorite. Zoe had also grown, and was taller then all the boy, but J.P. She too was now 13 years old and she and Takuya had that date that she promised. That was last month when Takuya was able to get the nerve to remind her. Her pack was in the rack over her head.

J.P. was now 14 years old. He had changed the most between the members of the group. He was still taller then everyone, but he had been losing weight and exercising more. It was showing for now instead of that jumper he wore last year, he now was wearing a yellow T-shirt and navy blue pants. His hair was now in a ponytail with spikes at the front. He also didn't bring only chocolate bar, he brought popcorn, soda, and gum. His three packs were resting on the rack above his head. He was staring out the window.

Lastly, he's brother had changed more in how he interacts with people then in looks. He had grown taller and still wears that bandana on his head. The T-shirt was purple and he was wearing a navy blue wind jacket with blue jeans. They were sitting together, side by side. Their packs on the same rack.

He is wearing a black long sleeve shirt with a purple vest over his shirt. He was also wearing blue jeans. He was sporting a necklace from his favorite TV show, Naruto. It was the symbol of Hidden Leaf.

He returns to looking out the window. He just couldn't believe just how the Digital World looked. _'It's so different then when I last saw it. It's whole now and again somebody is trying to conquer it. I wonder if this could be solved without a huge battle. I hope I'm ready for this.'_

They pass the train station and continue through a forest. "I wonder where we'll be stopping." Tommy asks. "I think some place safe, maybe a fortress. Some place secret I bet." J.P. states. Takuya adds, "Yea, made complete with ghosts!" "Takuya!" Zoe and Tommy yell at the same time. "What! I'm just kidding! Sorry." Takuya says. Kouji snorts and says, "I think we'll about to find out, just where we're going."

And they soon pass through a long black tunnel. It was totally black; it made him hold his breathe. It wasn't the purplish black that he got the corrupt spirit of Darkness, but he still can't wait to get out of the tunnel. Much to his peace of mind they quickly find themselves passing through a forest once again. They also got their first view of where they're headed.

"Welcome to Avalon's Gate. It's been closed for twenty thousand of years! The Council had to spend five straight days unsealing the seal placed on this part of the Digital World. Rumors fly around that this place was last used when a great evil came to the Digital World. Nobody remembers just what that evil was but they have mon look through the library. They hope to rediscover lost know, I think it'll be ages before the can even translate any of the books. Here's our stop." The trailmon slows down as they find themselves in front of a great building that was in the center of the city.

As they were getting off they spot another trailmon already here. They also watch as Mercuremon and Ranamon bring out a black dragon like Digimon with a red symbol on his crest. He notice that the black Digimon just stares in shock at them. He also finally notices that he was tied up. He sees a black belt with a black pouch that reminds him of Naruto's pouch.

"Hey Mercuremon! Hey Ranamon! It's been a long time, huh?" Takuya yells.

(V)(V)(V)

They finally arrive at wherever they were heading. He had time to examine his form. He has a snout to go along with his tail and wings. He was all black and he also had a belt and a pouch. He wonders just what's in the pouch, but he'd have to wait later to find out. They pull him onto his feet and he finds that he's walking on his toes. It seems that his legs are like Renamon's or Flamedramon's.

They step off the train and he comes face to face with humans. He couldn't help but stare. He snaps out of it when the guy with a hat and goggles yells, "Hey Mercuremon! Hey Ranamon! It's been a long time, huh?"

'_Mercuremon? Ranamon? Never heard of them, I bet I'm in a different reality. Great! I wonder where Calamon is, I hope the little guys up to helping me out with this jam. I wonder why I'm the one that's tied. I bet I'll hear more about that.'_ He listens as the mirror Digimon answers, "It has indeed, Takuya. It's a pleasure to see all of you again. Sorry but we must escort this one to a holding cell. I believe we'll see you later." And with that the mirror guy and green skin girl lead him into the huge building.

He did notice the three Digimon that they pass. One was he never seen before, but the other two he did know. One was a Cherubimon and a Seraphimon, the mega form of Patamon.

He was lead through many hallways and when down three stairways. Soon they come to a deserted hall way lined with cells. They open on and he walks in. They close the door and he is still tied up. After looking around he decides to give into the exhaustion he feels.

(V)(V)(V)

They watch as Mercuremon and Ranamon lead the black Digimon into the building. They also watch as Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Ophanimon come the same way. Though Cherubimon was too large to use the walkway so he was floating along through the air.

"Greetings Chosen, I'm sorry about calling you here, but we need your help. The Warriors of Fire, Ice, Wind, Thunder, Light, and Darkness have decide to become spirits again, to help protect you while you're here. If you lift up your cell phone, I'll change them into your D-tectors." Ophanimon says. They did as they were told. Soon they held their D-tectors and then the spirits appear and enter into their D-tectors. They pocket their D-tectors and pick up their packs.

"If you'll follow us, we'll take you to the meeting room. There we'll inform you to what has been happening." Seraphimon states. "True, I'll go see if I can't get some food for us to eat." Cherubimon says and as if on mark their stomach's growl at the mention of food. They look sheepish at that and the three rulers just chuckle a bit at that.

Cherubimon flies away and they follow Seraphimon and Ophanimon into the building.

(V)(V)(V)

He knows he's dreaming. For he finds himself back at the park, by Guilmon's shed. He looks around and soon finds himself tackled by Guilmon.

"Takatomon! I couldn't find you before! I really missed you!" Guilmon says as he pins him down. "I couldn't find you too boy. Could you get off, I can't breath." "Ok, sorry Takatomon." Guilmon says as he gets off. He gets up and dusts himself off. He's relieved that he's human here.

"So just what happen Takatomon?" Guilmon asks. "I don't know boy, but I'm a Digimon when I'm awake." "What kind?" Guilmon asks. "A black humanoid dragon. I got wings, a tail, and a slender snout. Right now, I have no idea what I'm called and what attacks I can do. I'm also tied up." Guilmon grins and then asks, "Where's Calamon?" "No clue. So, before I wake you want to just hang?" Guilmon nods and the both go looking for some place to lie down and just cloud watch.

---------------------------------

We find Calamon in a garden with a small angel rookie. That angel Digimon's name is Lucemon. They're playing hide and seek. Calamon was hiding in some rose bushes. Lucemon was the seeker.

As Lucemon was about to come up to the bushes that he was hiding in, a Leomon comes and says, "Lucemon, it's lunch time. Also, the Chosen have arrived." Lucemon thinks a bit and then asks, "Could my friend come with me?" Leomon blinks in surprised and then says, "If your friend is hungry, then I don't see why not." Calamon jumps out of the bushes, yelling "Yea! I hope you have Guilmon Bread or cream puffs!" He flies toward Lucemon and grins.

The Leomon just stops and looks stunned that there was a Digimon playing with Lucemon. Most have been too busy lately to have time to be playmates to Lucemon. So he just looks at Calamon then just nods slowly and leads the two to where lunch was.

**To Readers:**

I hope you like this first chapter for this third story. I hope you give me you opinion on how you find this chapter. I think that there might be a fourth story to finish all this up. So, just be patient!

To be continued …


	2. Chapter 2

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 2

They all soon find themselves in a large room. They sit down and wait for Cherubimon to come back. They also leave their packs at the door. It was Kouji who ask them a question that they were all thinking about. "Who's that Digimon that Mercuremon and Ranamon had tied up?" The two angels Digimon exchange a look, then Seraphimon that answered. "We don't know. We just ask Mercuremon and Ranamon to bring the Digimon that was to come out of a portal. I guess they found him there. We plan on talking with him later." "How could you not know what Digimon he is?" J.P. asks. Ophanimon answers, "There have been a lot of Digimon that we're never seen before. They have attack two villages before we knew that there was any danger. The Legendary Warriors had stopped the attack on a third village. We even showed up, and asked why they were attacking our villages. They claim that we should surrender to this 'Gather of Life.' We think they come from a different reality. We did revive a warning two days ago about a dangerous Digimon coming. We really don't know just why they want to conquer us, that's why that unknown Digimon is here. We just hope that he'll answer our questions."

They all thought about this as Cherubimon came in with Bokomon and Neemon, their old friends. "Why can't you just learn not to touch anything? You idiot!" Bokomon yells at Neemon. "Pretty picture! Hey!" Neemon waves at them. They just smile at their antics. Bokomon just sighs and leaves Neemon staring at the large map on the wall. "Long time no see, Bokomon." Takuya says and they just nod their heads. "It's nice to see you as well. Sorry to say I'll be too busy helping out in the library to help you guys out. Neemon! Get over here!" Bokomon turns to yell at Neemon. Neemon walks over.

As Bokomon talks about the problems of translating the books, he just looks around the room. The map that Neemon had been staring at was on the wall that was facing the door that they came in. To the left was the large door meant for large Digimon to enter by. On his right was a wall with bookshelves.

Soon he watches as a Leomon leads an angel rookie and a small Digimon with purple markings into the room. The rookie runs to Seraphimon, calling, "Daddy! This is my friend Calamon! Can he sleep over?" The smaller angel hugs Seraphimon's waist. "Calamon?" The male Digimon asks.

They find that the small Digimon was on the table and looking at them. They also notice that his ears are smaller and they notice the black and red mark on Calamon's forehead.

Zoe did what any normal girl would do. "He's so cute!" They watch as Zoe gives Calamon a hug. "Hi! You want to be friends?" The little guy asks after Zoe puts him down. They just blink and look at each other. Ophanimon asks, "Where did you come from, little one?" "I lost Takato and Guilmon. Some big mean Digimon attack us for no reason! Takato and Guilmon deleted him though! Have you seen they? Takato makes really good Guilmon Bread!" They again just blink at that.

"Is Takato a human?" He asks, for nobody had said anything for a few minutes. "Yip! He has goggles on his head like that guy." Calamon points at Takuya. "But without the hat. And Guilmon is red with black markings. He's also really big!"

Now was when Digimon came in, bring in food with them. Only Neemon, Calamon, and Lucemon started eating. Everyone else just sat down, trying to take in the information the Calamon just said. _'I wonder just what Takato looks like. Calamon only really said he was wearing goggles. Not much to go on. And who's the angel rookie?'_

Tommy then asks the rookie, "So, Seraphimon's your dad? I'm Tommy, what's your name?" The rookie just shallows and answers. "Yip, Seraphimon's my dad. Aunty Ophanimon and uncle Cherubimon help look after me. I'm Lucemon." And with that said, he returns to eating. "Lucemon? Ok." Was all Tommy could say.

They begin to eat, they all wanted to know where the other Legendary Warriors are, but thought it better to ask later. It would seem everyone now has quite a few questions. One was just where could this Takato be? You'd think that they'd hear about a human with an odd Digimon.

'_Maybe that Digimon might know. And just how is it that Lucemon is here? I wonder just what this Takato is like?'_

Soon the food was gone and Calamon was bragged off to play by Lucemon. The Leomon went to supervise the two. Bokomon took Neemon off to the library. The Digimon that help bring in the food, also took it away.

It was J.P. that asks, "So, when did they attack?" Cherubimon answers. "It was on Sunday." "Wait, the trailmon said it took you five days to unseal this place? How did you know you needed this place?" Zoe asks. Again it was Cherubimon that answers. "We need a place to recover from. A month after you left, we began to search for a safe place to work from. Two weeks later we unsealed Avalon's Gate. It three days later that we heard about Lucemon's egg. It was Seraphimon who wanted to raise Lucemon. It was around this time did we begin to bring Digimon here to train. We had noticed odd energies appearing and disappearing. We thought it better to be prepared. We didn't think that the threat would be real. And the other Legendary Warriors are out and about; they're following their own ideas of what need to be done. I believe that Mercuremon and Ranamon have left again."

They sat there, thinking about what this means. "So, does Lucemon remember anything?" Kouji asks. Seraphimon answers. "No, or else I would have noticed. He and I talk before bedtime. I tuck him in at night. He's like a son to me." "So, it's his second child hood?" Tommy asks. Seraphimon smiles and answers, "It would seem so. There's not many Digimon around to play with him. So, I guess that Calamon coming will be a blessing for Lucemon. I just wonder how come we haven't been informed about this other human." Takuya says. "Maybe now is a good time to go ask?" Ophanimon then nods and says, "I'll take you there. Seraphimon and Cherubimon could do without my presents for the meetings coming up."

Soon they were following Ophanimon down some stair. They come to a hall and stop in front a cell. They look in and find the Digimon asleep.

"Should we wake him?" He asks.

(V)(V)(V)

"I think you need to wake up, Takato." Guilmon says. "Why you think that, boy." He asks without opening his eyes. "Just because there's this odd light appearing around you." Guilmon answers. He opens his eyes and looks at this hand and finds it's glowing. "See you soon, boy." He says before he wakes.

He opens his eyes and finds that he was being watched. _'I can't believe I fell asleep! This is really uncomfortable! I think I'm hunger too!'_ He snaps out when he hears, "I think he just woke up, Kouichi." He hears a voice say. He turns to look and finds that the people he saw coming off the train. He would say hey to them, but his snout was tied up.

The unknown angel Digimon opens the door. The guy with the hat gear combo walks up to him and unties him. Trying not to make any sudden moves his hands in front of him. When the guys move back to give him room. He stands up; he stretches out his wings and then folds them back up. _'I'm going to have to watch how I sleep, for now. Don't want sorrow wings or shoulders.'_

"Hi, I guess we didn't intrude ourselves, I'm Takuya!" The headgear guy says. The next was the kid with the ice flake on his shirt. "I'm Tommy. And the big guy's J.P." Tommy points to the tall guy, then to the guy with a bandana, "This is Kouji! And Kouichi is his older twin. Finally Zoe here." He looks at each. Then he looks at the angel Digimon. "I haven't seen a Digimon like you before." His voice was a bit deeper.

"I'm Ophanimon, I'm sorry about tying you up. We were expecting a dangerous Digimon. We thought you were him." He blinks. "It's ok, I guess. Things happen. I don't know if you've seen a white Digimon with black and red markings on his forehead?" He watches as they all look at each other then Zoe asks, "Why do you want to know?" "I'm a friend of his." "You know where to find Takato?"

He pauses the digs into his pouch, hoping to find something of his and he feels his D-ark. Grabbing it he pulls it out. He holds it up and answers. "I'm Takato. I just have no clue how I ended up a Digimon. Last thing I remember is deleting this Digital knight. Guilmon and I Bio Merge to Gallantmon, then I fell through something and saw the sky of a few seconds before blacking out." He puts his D-ark back into the pouch. He just waits for a reaction.

The looks of surprise were on their faces. "Calamon's fine. If you follow me, I'll lead you to him." Ophanimon says. He nods and they all follow her out.

(V)(V)(V)

He just couldn't help but find it odd that they just met another Digidestine. Ophanimon left them at the beginning of to the garden that the tow young Digimon were playing in. She when to help the other two mega Digimon.

He wanted to know more of where Takato's from. So, as the neared the garden, he asks, "Then you're a Digidestine?" "Where I'm from, we call ourselves Tamers. I do know other Digidestine. The last reality I came from, I met up with five Digidestine from another world as well. In case you're wondering, they have partners. You guys are the first I've seen that don't. Or are they somewhere else at the moment?" They had stopped. J.P. answers, "No, we turn into Legendary Warriors. I become the Legendary Warrior of Lightning. Tommy becomes the Legendary Warrior of Ice." Zoe takes over. "I become the Legendary Warrior of Wind, Kouji becomes the Legendary Warrior of Light, Takuya becomes the Legendary Warrior of Fire, and Kouichi becomes the Legendary Warrior of Darkness." He notes that at Takato looks at Kouji and him, and then says, "You know that one of the other Digidestine, I met, and one of them was the Chosen of Light as well. Her name's Kari, who knows, you guys might be to met that group."

They just remain silent for a few minutes before Takuya asks, "You mean that this other Chosen of Light is a girl? What about the Chosen of Darkness?" Takato pauses then sighs. "There isn't any for Darkness in their reality. They're close to the Dark Ocean, though. I think the closness any of them came to being the Chosen of Darkness would be Ken. Though he has a Dark Spore in his neck that caused him to go evil. He tried conquering their Digital World. The others stopped him though. Turned out he was just being someone's puppet. Anyway, could we maybe talk about this later? I'd like to see Calamon and maybe eat. I haven't eaten since breakfast."

They nod and Kouji says, "See you later then. You didn't have to answer our questions, you know." Takato smiles a bit and answers, "A friend of my told me to earn trust, you have to give it. That's why I left, I was looking for him. I was hopping to find him." It was Tommy who asks, "We'll go now, have fun with Calamon and Lucemon!" With that they turn and leave him to find the two in the garden.

They make it back into the build. "You know, he seems nice. Considering that he was left in a cell tied up." Zoe says. "Maybe too nice. I mean, he didn't seem that upset that is partner isn't here." Kouji says. "Lighten up, buddy! We haven't even begun to ask him things. I think that he must believe that Guilmon is safe. We could ask him next time we see him." J.P. nods and adds, "I'd like to know more about why where he's from they call themselves Tamers. And did you notice that slit on the side of his Digivice? I wonder what it's for." He puts his right hand on his brother's left shoulder. "Relax Kouji. We just have too much information in a short amount of time. If Takato deleted that knight Digimon, then that warning was about that knight. I think we should do like Takato quoted, 'to earn trust, you have to give it.'" Kouji just nods and gives him a little smile before they continue walking.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches them leave, he was wondering just who Lucemon is though. He then turns and soon sees Calamon flying to a tree. He decides to call out. "Hey Calamon!" Calamon turns and he just grins and waves. "Guilmon?" Calamon ask after he gets out of the tree. "Sorry Calamon, Guilmon's in my dream world at the moment. So, where's your friend?" Calamon looks sad about the first part, but then lightens up at the mention of friend. "Hey Lucemon! This is Takato! His a Digimon right now, but I bet if we ask him to make some Guilmon Bread together, he'll make some!"

He watches as a small angel Digimon flies over and lands in front of him. "Could you please make some, Takato? I heard from Calamon that you make the best Guilmon Bread and cream puffs!" He acts like he's thinking about it. Both Digimon watch him think it over then when Takato nods, they give a yell of joy and Lucemon leads him to the kitchen.

He just grins at their antics and wishes Guilmon were here to join in. _'I'll try my hardest to split us out of this form, boy. I really like, but I think we need some personal space, really badly right now. I wonder just what's here for me to eat. I'm getting really hungry!'_

The two lead him through the halls and up a flight of stairs. Soon he finds himself in the kitchen. It was deserted, with no mon in sight, he turns to his two helpers and says, "Right you two just watch as I go through these cupboards to look to the items I need. What first, cream puffs or Guilmon Bread?" They both yell out together, "Guilmon Bread!" He grins and is soon looking through the cupboards.

Unknown to the ones in the kitchen Seraphimon and Cherubimon look in, for the Leomon that was supervising the two young Digimon had reported to them about what the little groups plan. They both smile at the scene they find. For both Digimon were trying to suggesting for Takato to look. They both left, they hope that they don't make too much of a mess.

To be continued …


	3. Chapter 3

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 3

They all decide to look around. The split up, Takuya when with Zoe, Tommy when looking around without anybody, J.P. as well. He went with his brother to look around the city.

They had asked a Centarumon guard which way to the city. The Centarumon was quite helpful. They followed the directions and found themselves on a street to a market.

"You really don't like Takato?" He asked as they move through the crowd. "It just I don't know him. Maybe if when I know him some more, then I'll get back to you. You trust him?" His brother asks as the stop to look at a booth that sells fruit. He thinks about it for a minute then says, "I do, and for one thing, if he wanted to escape, all he had to do was use an attack. Plus, Calamon doesn't seem the kind to lie."

They return to moving along. They see signs that advertise different brand names. They see rookies, champions, and ultimates walking around. They look up to see Digimon flying through the air. The also notice that on the roofs there seem to be booths for Digimon that are too large to walk around.

They stop in front of a booth that sells weapons. Kouji then continues by saying, "I guess, I mean we've only been here for a few hours. And we've only known Takato and Calamon for maybe a half an hour. I'll promise to keep an open mind if you admit that there might be a very good reason not to trust him. Agreed?" He gives Kouji a small smile. "Ok, but we might want to walk toward the keep to get back there for supper. We can also stop at other booths on our way back." Kouji nods. They turn around and begin to walk back the way they came.

---------------------------------

They were eating the Guilmon Bread that he made. He was eating something called a meat apple. It was cooked and he found it filling. The two young Digimon were having a mixture of both. _'I can't believe that they had peanut butter, I wonder just where the Digidestine are?'_

They hear the small door close and they see Tommy stand at the door looking sheepish. "Sorry, I just wanted to close it a little bit. So, what're eating?" He walks over to the group of three.

"I'm eating a meat apple. Never had one before. So, where the others?" He asks. The two Digimon just look on as they had another loaf. "We decided to look around, so what you make?" He smiles and says, "Guilmon Bread. It's bread filled with peanut butter." Tommy looks surprised at that. "You cook?" "My parents own a bakery. I only really practice was at the Tendo's. That's whose house I stayed at. So, you might want to grab a loaf before they eat it all."

Tommy did just that; he looked for a small loaf and took a bit. "Mmmm, this is good! So why is it called Guilmon Bread?" "My partner, Guilmon, really likes peanut butter and bread. My parents got the idea from my friend Kazu. It's usually shaped like Guilmon's head. But for awhile now, its just looks like any other bread." The two Digimon finish up and then head to the door, says before they leave, "Thanks Takato! We're going out to play! See you at supper!" The human and the human turned Digimon just watch them go.

He just grins at that. "Well, I guess I'll put the rest away. So, when did you guys save the Digital World?" Tommy looks surprised at that. "How you know we saved the Digital World?" "It what all the Chosen do. My friends and I help defeat a rogue program called the D-Reaper. It also ended up in the real world. We lost our partners for a while there." He looks off at a wall, thinking about that sad time. Tommy answers, "About late year. I guess you'll hear about it after supper tonight. I should warn you that it had to do about Lucemon." Tommy looks kind of concern. He smiles in understanding, "This Impmon that I know, he did something pretty bad and I did something really bad. I think that whatever it was, it's not a problem any more." "You did something really bad? What?" Tommy asks. "I lost control of my rage, I made Guilmon into Digivolve into a mega. Let's say that I'll tell you the rest later, ok?" Tommy nods, clearly wanting to know.

He watches Tommy leave and he returns to clearing up.

---------------------------------

It's been three days since they've been here. They had listened to Takato's tales and they had told him about what they've been through. They had been shock to learn the events leading to Guilmon Digivolving into Megidramon and of just how Impmon was involved. Takato heard about how he was used against the others. They soon found to be a great guy, though Takuya was stunned to learn that there are other goggle-wearing guys out there.

Right now Zoe was giving Takato a flying lessen. He was here to keep an eye on Lucemon and Calamon. Kouji, Takuya, Tommy, and J.P. were out doing a mission with Grumblemon. This was Takato's second one since they got here. It surprised them all that Takato can't use any attacks and didn't know how to fly. It was Cherubimon's thought that all that knowledge was with Guilmon in Takato's dream world.

Takato's having a rough go at learning to use his wings to fly. "Try to look for rising air." Zoe says. Takato flaps his wings and rises a little higher then he was. Zoe grabs his hand and helps him fly higher. Unlike most flying Digimon, Takato had to actually use his wings, it more physical for him then for other Digimon. He reminds him of a bird or bat. It was a good thing that Takato's wings were quite large, big enough to support him in the air.

He looks over at Lucemon and Calamon who were just smiling but silent. He remembers the last time, when they talked to Takato, Takato forgot to keep flapping his wings. He fell right out of the sky and landed in a tree. It would seem that Lucemon and Calamon have decide to talk to Takato after his lessen. _'Poor guy, having to learn just how to fly. I hope he learns quickly. I wonder if it does have to do with Guilmon. Maybe if Guilmon was incharge of the body, I don't think he'd have to learn to fly. Maybe Cherubimon's idea has more to it then we thought at the time. I wonder if they found a way to help him yet.'_

"Takato really need help." Lucemon says suddenly. He looks at him and then asks jokingly, "In which, flying or landing?" Lucemon answer, "With both." Soon they look and see Takato heading head first into a bush. They jump up and raced down the stairs to check up on Takato.

"You ok, Takato?" Calamon asks really worried. Takato looks up and sighs. "Why me?" Lucemon says, "You almost got it. I think that's as far as you can go, unless Dad finds away to make it easier for you." "I agree. He's ok Zoe!" He says and looks up to Zoe. "Sorry Takato! I guess it's really hard to teach you how to fly. I don't even know how I manage to do it. I starting to wonder just how Digimon can fly."

They help him up. Takato stretches and then folds his wings. "Thanks guys. Maybe I should just remain land bound. Rika'd hunt me down if I don't show up whole." They laugh a bit at that. They had heard all about the events of the D-Reaper. "I think I can help."

They turn and find Seraphimon standing there. "You can help Takato! Thanks Dad!" Lucemon runs and hugs Seraphimon. For his part, Seraphimon just smiles and pats Lucemon's back. "We just need to do a simple spell and Takato will be flying in no time." Takato looks nervous about that. "Just what kind of spell, sir?" "It's just to help you active the data of your form. It won't harm you, even when you change back into your true form. You see that's the problem. That's also the reason you can use your form's attacks. If you'll follow me, we'll do it right now. Thank you Zoe and you too, Kouichi. Could you keep an eye on Calamon and Lucemon for a few minutes?" They nod their agreement. They watch Seraphimon lead Takato away.

"Now, who's up for a game of air tag?" Zoe asks, for she was still Kazumon. "We are!" And both child like Digimon fly through the air. Zoe gives chase. He heads back up the stairs and then sits back down to watch them.

(V)(V)(V)

He didn't know about this. But he trusts Seraphimon, mostly because of Lucemon. He likes the little angel Digimon. Lucemon might have been the bad guy last year, but now he has a second chance at having a happy life. He knows that Calamon was helping Lucemon, by just being his friend. He does wonder just when Lucemon will Digivolve, for Calamon was the light of Digivolution. He just hopes that everyone has thought of that, for it wouldn't be a shock to them when he does. He wonders just what Lucemon's going to Digivolve into.

They soon stop and enter a room. Seraphimon picks up a book and reads from it. He feels energy flowing around him and then very suddenly into him. His right hand flies to his red Hazard mark on his crest. Then he feels much more like himself. Like he was a bit more whole. Seraphimon closes and puts down the book. "How do you feel?" "Much better. A bit more whole, if that's possible." Seraphimon smiles and nods. "Go try to fly, in a hour we'll test your attacks. And just for you to know, the spell just opens what's already there, so nobody can undo this." He nods and leaves Seraphimon to his studies.

As he walks through the keep, he is in deep thought. _'Well, two things down. I wonder if they're looking for away to get us unfused. I know you're lonely, being there all by yourself. I can't wait to watch you play with Lucemon and Calamon. I can't believe three days have passed. I just wish I could let them know I'm fine. I wonder if Davis has connected them? I'll never know until I leave this reality. I bet the Lucemon will Digiovlve before we go. I should help them get rid of this invaders, I might even find a way to contact Izzy.'_

He finds Kouichi sitting and watching the three fly through the air. Kouichi turns and asks, "How did it go?" "Better then I thought it would. So, what are they doing?" "Tag I believe, being land bound, it's hard for me to keep track of who's it. So, you're going to join in?" He grins and nods. "Just for a while. Seraphimon wants to check out my attacks. So, I'll be up there. Call if you want someone to talk to." Kouichi grins and nods.

He opens his wings and he jumps with all his strength into the air. Soon he's catching up to Calamon, "Who's it?" "Lucemon!" Calamon answers. He grins and flies higher.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches Takato go higher. He really did like Takato and knew that Kouji grudgingly likes him too. He really did want to meet this other Digidestine. Ken was the one he really wants to meet, he didn't know why though. _'Maybe it's because he did some bad things too. Or that he was a puppet as well. I wonder if I can help him with that Dark Spore. Why can I see my self there? I've only heard about it from Takato and yet I feel that I'm needed somewhere else. That Dark Ocean, I wonder just what it's like? Is it something that needs to be purified? Then am I the one to purify it? Evil does need to be fought with, Darkness doesn't mean evil. So is that my destiny? I wonder what Kouji will say, when he gets back. I wonder what his opinion is? I think he want to meet Kari. I know that Takuya wants to meet Davis and Tai. Tommy just wants to see others his own age, Zoe and J.P., to visit and to see new sights. Things look to be getting interesting. I wonder how long the others will be? Another few days I think. They just left yesterday.'_

He snaps out of it when Takato lands by him and is soon followed by Lucemon and Zoe. Zoe turns back into a human and Calamon just lands on his head. They have gotten used to Calamon doing it. He's been on all the Digidestine. Kouji have grumbled but didn't shoe him away.

Seraphimon stands by the doorway; he gets up and follows the others. Soon they find an indoor practice range. "We'll test your abilities here. Try anything you can think of." Seraphimon says. Takato nod and closes his eyes.

(V)(V)(V)

He closes his eyes and the finds something, before he knows it he shouts out, "Black Fire!" With his right arm in front of him, black fire flows off his hand. The attack lands about twenty feet away. It goes out, but everyone just looks at where it had been.

"Good. Now focus on a target and try again." He nods and looks for a target. Finding one, about fifteen feet away. He yells, "Black Fire!" And again a black fireball engulfs the wooden target. In two minutes the target is ashes.

"That was a fire proof one as well. Your quite powerful, now try a different attack." He nods and again thinks of one. Soon both of his arms are in front of him and he yells, "Black Fire Storm!" Black fire flows off his hands and soon forms a great funnel of whirling black fire. It lasts as long as he focuses energy into it. Soon it dies and all that's left on the dirt floor is a thin sheet of glass.

They all blink and Takato takes out his D-ark and points it at his hand. It soon scans him and he reads out the information.

**Drakemon**

Rookie level Digimon

Mostly Virus type

Humanoid Dragon. Attacks are Black Fire and Black Fire Storm.

He puts his D-ark back into the dimension pocket that's in the pouch. He had found his deck in there, they had found out about it the next morning when Calamon and Lucemon had snuck into his room and had been putting things into it. They had been in the process of putting a very long spear into his pouch. He had to dig around for a full hour to get everything out of there. He had found his deck that way and had let the Digidestine look through them.

"What does it mean, mostly Virus?" Zoe asks. They turn to Seraphimon, he answers, "It might be the fact that Takato's human. So that might explain that. Drakemon? Nice name." He just shrugs, "I didn't name myself. You know I should have done that before. Just to see what kind of Digimon I am. I'm getting kind of hungry. Could we maybe do this later, and the next time, I'll see if I could use the cards on myself." They nod and head to find lunch.

He took one last look at the glass before following. He just couldn't believe that his attacks were that powerful. _'I wonder just how powerful my champion form is?'_ Was all he thought about as he walks out through the door.

**To Readers:**

I thought that Drakemon was a good name. I've read The Rage and The Rite by Richard Lee Byers. In it there's a smoke Drake, so I did want Takato's form to be named after a dragon, and in some books, Drake can be used for Dragon. I also didn't find any Digimon named Drakemon so I hope you like the name. And just to let you know, Guilmon was a powerful Rookie, so with Takato and Guilmon fused for the mean time, I wanted to show just how strong, even if they are fused into a rookie, they still are. And I have no clue if other Digimon uses any of Takato's attacks. If they are, let me know! Hope you like this chapter!

To be continued …


	4. Chapter 4

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 4

They came back from lunch with Ophanimon coming with them. They came back to the room only to find it occupied. Seraphimon asks a Knightmon, "What's going on?" The Digimon turns and replies, "Sir! The practice area has received damage. The floor and ceiling have fire damage. We're trying to repair it."

They just blink and look at him. "I did ceiling damage? Sorry about that." He says sheepishly. "It's ok, that's why it's called indoor practice room. I guess that's enough of trying out your attacks. We'll leave you to your repairs." Ophanimon says kindly.

Soon Lucemon and Calamon run off to play in the garden. Ophanimon and Seraphimon too take their leave to taken in reports. This leaves Kouichi, Zoe, and him all alone. They head out of the keep and to the city around it.

"So, how do you like it here so far?" Zoe asks. He thinks about it and answers, "It's different. This place has a lot of life. I wouldn't mind to visit where you guys live, but I don't think I'm going to be around that long." Kouichi asks, "I don't suppose that we could come with you? You know, to look for Davis." "I think it's up to you guys. I mean, your spirits are need here, right?" Zoe answers, "It's not like your leaving right away. You're like us. You'll help out with what's going on. So, just how many girls are Digidestine or Tamers?" He counts mentally. _'Mimi, Sora, Kari, Yolei, Rika, Jeri, Suzie, Ai, and Kasumi. So…'_ "Nine that I know of personally. You must feel out of place, being the only girl Digidestine." Zoe nods, "It's different, but you guys are my best friends. So, do you have a crush on anyone?"

It was a good thing that his hide was black or they would have seen him blush. The image of Rika kissing him on his check flashes through his mind. "Could we talk about something else?"

Zoe grins evilly but before she could continue, Kouichi comes to his rescue. "You say that Davis had been gone for about a week before you left?" Happy at that Kouichi help him out he answers, "A week and a day. The Dire knows where Guilmon, Calamon, and I are. Before we leave, I think it might be a good idea to find out just what is happening with Ranma and them. I'm worried that these Digimon might find their way to where the Dire is. I don't think she's ready for that."

They look thoughtful as they walk around. They find themselves in a park. They find a good spot to sit down and chat some more.

(V)(V)(V)

He just looks over at Zoe, his mind warring about the question he really wants to ask. He looks at Takato and finds him look off toward one of the buildings. He takes a deep breath and says, "So, just what do you think of Takuya, Zoe?" He watches her face, she looks stunned for a second before answering, "Why do you ask, Kouichi?"

Takato looks at both of them and looks puzzled for a minute before he gets what he was saying. Takato just sits and waits. Kouichi answers, "I'm just wondering, just what you thought of your date with him." She answers, "I believe that it's between Takuya and I, so I wouldn't mind if you don't ask about it. If something was going on, we'd tell you."

He just grins at the answer. He has gotten better at teasing the others and brave enough to make jokes. He has been spending too much time with Takuya and J.P. He takes one last look at Zoe before just turning away.

"You guys think the others are ok?" Takato asks. He answers, "We'd hear other wise. I just wonder just what the mission was." They just nod in agreement. "It's might not be that bad. I mean it might not be worth mentioning." Zoe says. "I wonder how long until they get back. So, you think that maybe, now might be a good time to look around this whole area. I mean that I really wouldn't mind looking around the forest or the other towns outside this city." Zoe and him think for a minute, then Zoe answers, "Lets ask them tonight and want for tomorrow morning. If things look ok, then by lunch, we could be out of this city. I wonder if Lucemon and Calamon want to come with?" He answers, "Seraphimon might want Lucemon around, so Calamon might be staying with Lucemon." Takato nods. "I think Calamon need to be Lucemon's playmate. It looks like Lucemon might need to have a real good friend. And Calamon can be a really good friend, he's really care about others. He did try his hardest to help Jeri, when she needed a friend. I just hope he hasn't met his match." They just sit there, letting the silents between them grow. They feel fine with just what they plan on doing.

-------------------------------------

He flies a bit ahead of Zoe and Kouichi. He's getting use to flying now. He wonders what Rika would say if she saw him now. He spies a large branch and he lands to wait for Zoe and Kouichi.

As he waits he begins to think about just what the reactions of Ranma and the others. _'I think that they'd be shocked and stunned. Then Izzy would start asking questions. The others might be make comments about things and the Digimon might just stare for a while. Ok, all I really know is Izzy would really be interested in just how I ended up like this. I just can't wait to see them again, human or not.'_

He spots them coming under him. All his stuff and some of theirs were in his dimension pouch. He really doesn't know just why he has it, but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They wave at him and he waves back. Then he launches himself off the branch and glides down.

"How much farther to Way Fort?" He asks Zoe, for she has the map. She looks at it and then at her D-tector. Their D-tector's don't have this section of the Digital World. They add information to it by exploring the area. They plan on sharing it with the others when they get back. This whole exploration will be about two weeks. Her answer is, "By tonight, around 8:00 pm. So, we keep going." They nod and they continue.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches as Takato walks a bit up front. He's pack wasn't that heavy yet. Takato's dimension pouch carries most of their clothes. So, only water and some snacks are in the pack. It's Sunday and they left Lucemon and Calamon back at the keep, Seraphimon was worried that some Digimon might think the wrong things on seeing him. It's only been a year since the events of last year, but some things just don't go away very fast. So Lucemon's safer at the keep then walking around. With Calamon keeping him company, those two seem to have clicked. He has never met a Digimon like Calamon, he just really friendly and very forgiving. He still doesn't get just how he is the light of Digivolution.

"Hey Takato, just how does Calamon help Digimon Digivolve?" He asks after two hours of walking. Takato looks over at him. "It's all about how he feels. I don't really know, but it's usually when he wants to help out. I don't even think Zhuqiaomon really know just how Calamon does it." He nods, "Thanks Takato." Takato nods and turns frontward.

-------------------------------------

They find themselves walking into Way Fort at 8:21 pm. They ask around for a place to stay. They find their way to the barracks to spend the night. They had stopped around 6:42 pm to eat supper.

Many Digimon had been looking at him. His body was slender and his hand has four fingers and a thumb, with short claws at the end. His tail is about four feet long and flexible. If he wanted to he could use his wings like a cloak, not many Digimon have wings that were so flexible. His dimension pouch lies on his left hip. His black hide with his red Hazard symbol on his crest. He's eye color is amber with a hint of green. He's just a few inches taller then he is as a human. His neck was a bit longer and his head looks sleek. He didn't have any horns or ears.

After walking into the Barracks, Kouichi asks a Sagittariusmon, "Could we spend the night here?" The Sagittariusmon looks at the three of them, he gaze rests on him the longest then says, "Karatenmon's in charge, I'll take you to him." They follow him down the hall. Soon they come to a courtyard. They see a black winged Digimon watching a group of smaller Digimon. Kouichi and Zoe take out their D-tectors. Kouichi scans one of the Digimon that are practicing.

**Kotemon**

Rookie level Digimon

Data type

Reptile. Attacks are Hothead and Thunder Kote.

He puts his D-tector away, and Zoe scans the black winged Digimon.

**Karatenmon**

Ultimate level Digimon

Virus type

Wizard. Attacks are Crow Swords and Cawcaw.

Then she put her D-tector away. They wait as the Sagittariusmon walks up to the Karatenmon. They watch as they talk. Soon the Karatenmon says to the group of rookies, "Good work! We're over for tonight." The group of seventeen rookies leaves.

Karatenmon with Sagittariusmon walk over. He looks over at them, and again he finds himself under the gaze of another Digimon. He was getting tired of the looks, but didn't really care one way or another. He just hopes that word would spread about him and then he wouldn't have any special attention.

"We have two room that you can use. It's not often that we have the honor of having Digidestine and their friends. I'm sorry; I've never seen a Digimon like you before. Just what are you?" Karatenmon ask, trying to be polite. He smiles a bit. "I'm a Drakemon, but you can call me Takato. I'm not from around here." "It's nice to meet you then. Sagittariusmon will show you to your rooms. I hope you stick around for breakfast tomorrow." Zoe says, "Thank you, we will."

They again followed Sagittariusmon. Kouichi and him shared a room. He goes through his pouch; he pulls out a bag that has Zoe's stuff in it. Then he pulls out some of Kouichi stuff. He leaves Kouichi alone and takes Zoe's bag to her. By the time he gets back to the room, Kouichi's changed and already in bed. He goes to another bed and lies on his stomach.

He soon finds himself in a forest. He looks around and finds Guilmon looking up at the night sky. He's human again and just grins. He walks over to him and Guilmon grins at him. "So, see anything you like?" He asks jokingly. "Yip, those lights in the sky are really pretty. Could you get some for me?" "Sorry boy. There too far up." He sits on Guilmon's right side. "We're in Way Fort. Calamon's sticking by Lucemon's side. I wish you could be by my side, boy." "I am by your side." He grins at that. "I mean without being fused together. I really want to see you play tag or hide and go seek with Lucemon and Calamon. As much as I like the fact that I can fly around and use fire attacks, I want you at my side outside of this place." Guilmon looks at him, "I wouldn't mind having something to eat. I haven't eaten anything in over a really long time! Could you make me some Guilmon Bread?" He grins sadly at that. "I'm sorry boy, but you see, there's no supplies around here. I also don't think you need to eat right now. Let's just relax, boy. I just want to relax right now. We'll play later, ok?" Guilmon smiles at that and returns to looking at the night sky.

To be continued …


	5. Chapter 5

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 5

After three hours of relaxing, Takato was ready to play some games with Guilmon. They played tag and catch. The even found a pool of water to swim in. They had quite a bit of fun.

Soon though they just stopped and rested. They just watched the sky. The moon was always full, when he comes here. He also didn't see any buildings but Guilmon's hideout. The sky's clear, so they could see the stars with easily.

Too soon, he begins to glow and he wakes. He turns to find Kouichi all ready dressed. "I think I'm happy that I don't have to worry about clothes right now." He says then yawns. He gets up carefully, so he doesn't injure his wings or tail. Kouichi grins and answers, "I remember a time like that. You do realize that you're totally naked right now?" He snorts as he opens his pouch and adds Kouichi's clothes into it. "True, but lots of Digimon go around naked. You know you act differently when you're relaxed." Kouichi looks like he's thinking about it and then answers, "Maybe it's just the company? You're not going to be around for years after this whole thing over. Maybe that's why I act differently when it's just you and me. Come on, I think breakfast is served." Takato follows Kouichi out of the room. Zoe's waiting for him and hands him her bag. Carefully he put it into his pouch. Then they head for breakfast.

(V)(V)(V)

He was thinking about what Takato said. He did act different when it's just them. He did like Takato and he just couldn't help but tease him when they're alone. _'I really do spend too much time with Takuya and J.P. I'm lucky that Takato doesn't take offence. I wonder just where to now?'_ He sits with Takato at the guy table. Zoe was over talking with a girl Digimon. They were eating eggs and some berries.

Takato was talking about a battle he had fought as Gallantmon. He was trying to plan on doing some sight seeing as they walk. He hopes Zoe doesn't mind. He knew that Takato wouldn't mind. _'I think he might enjoy it as well. This is a guy who likes to join in games with Lucemon and Calamon. I wonder just how powerful his attacks would be if he uses a card? It's not a matter of can he, it's more like just when will he?'_

Soon they're finish and they're saying bye to the Digimon that live at Way Fort. They walk for a few miles before Takato asks if it's all right to scout out the road before them. Zoe tells him to go for it. Takato nods and with a great leap, his wings open and he's flying a head.

"I wonder what he looks like as a human." He muses out loud. "He did say he wears goggles. Must look a little like Takuya. You know, he's really calm about all this." He answers, "Well, excepted for being a Digimon, he did go through this before. At least he's not getting attacked by Digimon around here." Zoe just nods and says, "True, I wonder just where he's heading to after everything is settled. If we could, I would like to join him in his search. It also wouldn't hurt if I get to met other girls that are Digidestine and Tamers." He smiles and says, "I wouldn't mind meeting Ken. I wouldn't mind help him with his Dark Spore. I think Kouji wouldn't mind meeting Kari." She nods at that. "Takuya probably would just like to go, just for the fun of it. Tommy might want to meet kids around his own age. J.P. who knows if he wants to go or not. If things workout, then maybe it we could. It all depends on our spirits and Cherubimon, Ophanimon, and Seraphimon." He nods and they continue walking in silents.

--------------------------------

It's Wednesday, they have made it to eight towns and villages. They have traveled as Digimon or as humans, well Zoe and Kouichi did. He couldn't be human, so he was still a Digimon. Luckily for him, Digimon no longer stare at him any longer then they did Zoe or Kouichi. They also didn't get attacked on their travels. He was kind of envious that they have a map on their D-tectors, but he did have his cards, so it evens out. Tamers didn't need a map of the Digital World, for they protect the real world from rogue Digimon.

They starting to head back to the Avalon's Gate, He misses Calamon. They also got a message that something big is going to happen on Saturday. That's what Ranamon reported. It seemed that some big shots were showing up that day. They plan on checking it out. He was going as well, they want his opinion and help if things go wrong. He wants to know just how it feels to use a card. He plans on just using Hyper Speed card, to night.

They were in a field of grass and flowers. They found a good spot for lunch. They sit down and Zoe and Kouichi take off their packs. They take out smoked fish and some juice the last village, Star Fall. He takes out a blanket for them to sit on. Soon they're enjoying the fish and juice.

He eats the a little more then them, but not as much as some Digimon he knows. He wonders why it's different for him then for other partner Digimon. The one he knows tend to eat a lot. If anything he should be eating about the same amount or more because he's fused with Guilmon. But he wasn't going to complain about it. He likes not having to eat like every two hours.

"Nice day. I wonder if it'll rain." Kouichi says. "It might, wouldn't mind if it did." Takato answers. "It just hope we find shelter before it does. I guess if we need to we could always spirit evolve into either our beast form or human form." Kouichi nods. "I still kind of getting use to the fact that you guys have only two forms each. Do Kouji and Takuya still have those hybrid forms? You know, the ones between Human and Beast forms." He asks. Zoe and Kouichi look thoughtful. It was Zoe that answers, "I don't know, they might. We could ask them next time we see them. You know, I wish they were here right now. This bonding that we're doing would be a lot better with them around. I mean, I've got to know you a lot better by traveling around with you, then if we had just stayed at the keep." Kouichi nods in agreement. "True, I hope we get a chance to do that. You're a ok guy, Takato." "Thanks, I do agree with you on doing this with the others. I wouldn't mind getting to know them as well. This place is pretty nice and peaceful." They stay silent as they begin to pack up their stuff. They continue to walk through the field.

(V)(V)(V)

They had found their way to a group of tents; it was one of the refuges places. They haven't been in one yet, so this was their first. They found talked to the Digimon in charge, it was a Rinkmon. They got two tents to use for the night. They set them up away from the main group. After they finish and before the call for supper, they followed Takato to a clearing.

Zoe and him found a good log to sit on and then they watch as Takato takes out his D-ark and his deck. Takato picks out a card, he puts his deck onto his belt. Then he holds the card in his left hand and his D-ark in his right hand. They watch as he scans the card in the stripe of his D-ark. Takato shouts out "Digimodify: Hyper Speed activate!" Takato puts his card back in his deck and his D-ark in his pouch. Then Takato moved and they lost track of him. They look around the clearing but couldn't find him. "That was thrilling." The turn around, and they find Takato behind them. They just let their jaws drop and look dumbly at him.

They soon recovered in a few minutes and Takato had moved to be in front of them. "What did it feel like?" He asks in awe. "It was like I got a huge rush of energy. It was like having a sugar rush without eating any candy and without the whole pressure to do something stupid. I was in control of when and where to use it. I knew it would only be with me for a few minutes but it didn't matter. That's the best I can do." Takato's eyes had glazed over for the most part. At the end he looks sheepish. "I guess it must have been something to remember. So, you tired?" Zoe asks. "Not really. It wasn't my energy that I used. I'm hungry though." On cue his stomach growls. Soon their stomachs growl in agreement with Takato's. "It must be supper." He says.

Then they hear the call for supper. Takato takes off his deck from his belt and put it into his pouch. They then head into the main body of tents. They find a line of Digimon waiting to get food. Zoe stands in front of Takato and him. Takato's stands behind him, they listen to the conversations going on. They found that blamed the enemy Digimon on the fact that they were no longer at their homes. They also found that none of them felt angry with the Legendary Warriors or for the three angels for what has happened. None seem to notice that there was two humans around and that might be lucky for them. They don't have to worry about anybody asking question that they don't know the answers to.

They make it to where the food is; they take a tray and begin to pick what they want. Soon they finish and they head back to their tents. They eat their food. They talk about what they had heard. Soon the foods gone and Takato takes the trays back.

They find a good spot to watch the sun set. Takato flies to where Zoe and him sat, watching the sunset. They didn't try to make conversation; they just wanted to enjoy watching this together. After the sun disappears, they just sat there, each lost in their own thoughts.

'_I really miss you, Kouji. I wonder just what you thought when you heard about Zoe, Takato, and me going exploring. Did you think that Takato's was going to try something? I wonder if you began to brood. Did Takuya bug you until you yelled at him? Or did Calamon so that? We're making our way back, so I hope you don't come looking for us. I can wait to tell you about the sights I've seen. I wonder just what you'd think when you hear about just what happened when Takato swiped that card through his D-ark.'_ He gets up and stretches, "I'm off to bed. Night." They nod and he walks back to where the tents are. Takato have fished around for the blankets and pillows from his pouch when they had finish setting up the tents. Some of his clothes and Zoe's bag were already out and in their respective tents. They had covered a lot of miles by traveling in their spirit forms. Mostly using their beast forms. He grins as he remembers that it was Takato who thought that it was a good idea that Zoe and him travel around in their spirit forms. It was good practice and it was enjoyable. Soon he closes his eyes and he falls asleep.

--------------------------------

Kouji stares at the ceiling of his room that he shares with his brother. They had just gotten back and had found out that Takato, Zoe, and Kouichi had when exploring this area. They had help Grumblemon with covering the trail of some refuges. It had taken longer then expected, but they had kept the invaders from capturing any of the refuges. They had to delete many of them. It would seem that they wouldn't be reborn here, and that they wouldn't be reborn anywhere. The data just disappears to some place, they didn't know where or just what place, just that the data does.

When he had found out about the three going exploring, both Calamon and Takuya had teamed up to bring him out of his brooding. He had to admit that between the two, he didn't stand a chance. They also convinced him to stick around. The fact that they were on their way here, helped. He just hopes that they get here soon.

He closes his eyes and flips onto his stomach and forces out any thoughts out of his mind. Soon he falls asleep.

To be continued …


	6. Chapter 6

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 6

After the returned the tents and had breakfast, they headed out. They had decide that they needed to get back to the keep as soon as they could, so Zoe and him became their respective warriors. Zoe became Zephyrmon and he became JagerLoewemon. Takato and Zephyrmon took to the air and he began running. They were a few miles from the refuges' camp. They were head to the southeast.

He grins privately, he's enjoying this. Just him, the ground, and the wind. He never did spend a lot of time here; most of that time was spent as Duskmon. He frowns at that. Duskmon's the corrupt form of Loewemon, the Warrior of Darkness. Back then; he was working for a corrupt Cherubimon. Then the fact that it took both Takuya and his bother to bring him out of his corrupt beast form, Velgemon. He also has to give thanks to Orphanimon, for it was with her help that he remembers who Kouji was. It was a dark time. He remembers how he got in front of Lucemon's attack. Of how he later woke up in the hospital, and learning that he had been in a coma. The others had brought him out of it with their D-tectors.

He shook his head, hoping to clear it. _'It's in the past, so lets just try and make some good memories right here, right now. This isn't like last year, I came here with them. This is a second chance to make up for my mistakes.'_ He then focuses on what his feeling, trying not to think of anything, but the ground and the wind.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks down at JagerLoewemon, he couldn't help but wonder why JagerLoewemon had seems to lag for a few minutes there. He shrugs and looks forward. He looks at Zephyrmon, who's up higher then him. He soars up to speak with her.

"So, how long do you think until we make it to the keep?" He asks her. She thinks about it for a few minutes and then answers, "I think sometime tomorrow. Then we have a day to plan what to do. Then I guess we'll attack. I can't wait to share the bits of information on this area." He grins and says, "I can't wait to see Calamon and Lucemon. Without Guilmon around physically, I feel lonely. It's odd to have your partner so close to you, but so far away. Sorry, just thinking out loud." He says sheepishly, he didn't mean to get all depressed. "It's all right, I'll never know what's it's like. The spirit of Wind and I just feel more whole like this then just seeing her. I know she's with me and that she's apart of me. Guilmon and you are meant to be separate, when not being Gallantmon. I'd feel naked if I wasn't able to turn into a Digimon. Different issues I guess, but I think the others would agree with me that they would feel naked here if they couldn't be come Legendary Warriors." He nods and smiles, "Thanks Zephyrmon, I think I need to here that. Hope Takuya knows just how great you are." He then flies lower. He didn't see Zephyrmon blush at his comment.

It's about noon, and they're looking for a place to have lunch. They have skimmed pass the edges of three towns. They didn't stop at any of them. Zephyrmon motions him to look over at this large rock in a field. He looks over at it and then nods. He flies lower and tells JagerLoewemon, "We've found a good spot for lunch, follow me." JagerLoewemon nods and he flies a bit higher and leads the way.

They find Zoe already going through her pack. JagerLoewemon goes back to being Kouichi. He lands and walks a little behind him. His right hand already fishing around for that blanket to use. Finding it he pulls it out. Zoe gets off the rock and he puts down the blanket on the rock. Then they climb on to the rock. Kouichi also brings out food and something to drink.

"Nice day, I wonder which town we'll be staying at tonight." He says. They agree and Kouichi says, "Doesn't really matter. We're welcome anywhere." Zoe adds, "I wonder if the others are back yet." He shrugs and says, "They might be, we'll find out at the keep. Enjoy!" He begins to eat some dry berries and fish. Zoe and Kouichi follows his example.

---------------------------------------------------------

Calamon and Lucemon have decided to play rescue. That's why they had pack up some food. They had decided to go look for Kouichi, Zoe, and Takato. They miss their playmate, Takato. Not that Kouichi and Zoe are bad or anything, it's that Takato likes to play games with them. Plus he makes really good cream puffs and lets not forget Guilmon Bread.

They were flying in the forest that surrounds Avalon's Gate. They were making their way northwest. Lucemon was carrying the pack that they had their food in.

They stop and looked around, they spotted a river and after putting the pack up in a tree, they jumped in. They laughed and splashed each other until they heard a voice say, "What are you two doing here? I thought you weren't suppose to leave the keep?"

They turn and find Kouji leaning against a tree. They then look at each other and it was Calamon who answered. "We're going to go find Kouichi, Zoe, and Takato! Hey! I thought Takuya and I got you to promise that you'd stay at the keep too!" Kouji keeps his look on his face, he feels guilty at that but he wasn't going to show it. "I was looking for the two of you. I thought that if Takato wasn't around to bake with, that maybe we could try to make some Guilmon Bread."

It was true; he planned to do something with the two of them, it just that he was thinking about doing it tonight. He had plan on just waiting around the forest, just in case they showed up to day. But on hearing them splashing around and finding them here, he knew that it would be a good idea to get them out of here. Even if it's safe in this area, you never know just what can happen. He also has heard of Guilmon Bread from Tommy and he didn't think it could be that hard to make. He does know a bit about cooking, he just never really cared to do it. So, after telling the two that he was will to try to bake, he didn't back out.

The two Digimon look at him hard and then jumps out of the river and gives him hugs. "Yea! Guilmon Bread! Thanks Kouji!" He yells, "You guys stop that! You're both wet!" They stop and Lucemon goes and grabs the pack. They let Kouji lead the way.

Kouji sighs and lead the two back towards the city. He gives the woods one last look and then turn back to the trail in front of him.

---------------------------------------------------------

The made it to File Connect. It was a good few miles away from Avalon's Gate. It would seem that they'd make it back to the keep by tomorrow, maybe around noon. They were invited to eat with leader of File Connect; the leader's an IceLoemon.

They also got a tour of the town. They enjoyed the look of the town, it turns out that File Connect was one of the abandon towns. There were eight of them and Avalon's Gate was the only city that they have found. Two of the ancient towns are by the ocean that was a great deal east of Avalon's Gate. All the towns now have Digimon living in the old houses. They had repaired some of buildings, but surprisingly, most of the buildings were fine. The towns had been settled since seven months after the seal was broken. Most of the villages and towns they have visited were new; they now found out that those towns and villages are only a few days old. That shock them all, it turns out a great deal of magic were involved. It also meant that when this is all over, the other places would be very easy to remove.

"That's quite amazing. I didn't know that Digimon magic users could do that." Takato says. He nods in agreement with him. IceLeomon smiles at that. "It's a lot of work, but most of the refuges camps have been turning into villages and towns. There a few that are still waiting but by this Sunday, there'll be none left waiting. I believe that there are Digimon that are still be evacuated." Zoe asks, "So, there have been no really battles between the invaders and the natives?" "Only three villages at the beginning. But once word got around, many were happy to evacuate. They didn't want to leave their lands and homes, but they also didn't want to get captured. When they found out that it was in this area, they all were relived about it. Unless the council of three invites you, no Digimon can find their way here. It doesn't matter just how many magic users that they have, it's an ancient area that's not even in myths any more. Nobody knows just what the ancient enemy was or just how they defeated it, but the fact that the ancients felt it was a good idea to seal this area off might mean they felt that this area would be needed again. I believe that when this is all over, this area will be resealed. It's only fitting, to do the same as the ancients. Maybe this area will be used again, but that's enough of that. I believe that it time to eat. Come, we can talk after supper." IceLeomon leads them back to his house for supper and to spend the night.

---------------------------------------------------------

Takuya and the others just stared at the mess that the kitchen was in. "Dude, how did this happen?" Kouji looks at the two sleeping Digimon. Both Calamon and Lucemon were covered in flour and other stuff. "They started it. I don't know how Takato could keep them from having a food fight. I can't believe they got me involved in it. Look, could I go clear up? I'll help clean up if you want me to." One of the cooks just shook his head. "Don't worry about it. You go and have a bath; we got to start making supper. As long as Calamon and Lucemon had fun, then that's all that matters. They have been kind of depressed when Takato and the others left. So go on and everybody that's here to cook, start cleaning up."

Seraphimon when and picked up Lucemon and Calamon. They followed him out and then Kouji heads for the room with the large pools. He when down two flights of stairs and found the right room. He walks in and begins to undress. Soon he's in the hot pool and is relaxing. He was going over just how those two could have a food fight when he told them not to. _'What does Takato have that they'd sooner listen to him then to me? Maybe I'll ask, it must be something simple. This is really nice.'_ He drifts off and then he falls asleep.

That was how Takuya found him an hour later, asleep. Takuya took off his cloths and walks into the hot pool. "Hey Kouji! Supper's almost done!" He yells in Kouji's ear. Kouji wakes and yell at Takuya, "You could have just shaken me awake! You didn't have to yell in my ear!" Takuya grins and answers, "Course I had to! You just made it so easy to, you know. You shouldn't fall asleep in this pool. Consider it a reminder to why not to fall asleep in hot water. Well my work here is done. See you later." He turns to walk out but Kouji tackles him. Soon they're splashing each other and wrestling.

Tommy walks in ten minute later and blinks at just what he finds there. "It's been ten minutes! Takuya, I thought you were to just tell Kouji that it's supper time, not get into a water fight. Come on! There almost finish setting the table." With that Tommy leave them before they could answer.

To be continued …


	7. Chapter 7

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 7

They enjoyed supper at IceLeomon's house, they had spend a few hours talking about just what might happen when this is all over. They also talked about rumors that have been circulating around. They listened to more history that they have found in the last few months. Soon they turned in for the night. Again Kouichi and him sharing the same room. Zoe is sleeping in her own room.

He stands where the shelter is, Guilmon's sleeping by the door. Grinning, he walks over to him. He lowers himself a bit and says, "Hey boy." Guilmon opens his eyes and moves his head up. "Hi Takatomon." Then he goes back to sleep. He pats Guilmon on the head and turns around to go and watch the night sky. He knows that when Guilmon's ready, that he'll come and find him.

(V)(V)(V)

He woke to find Takato still sleeping. It was still dark out, so he gets out of the bed. He takes the blanket with him. He finds his way out of the house. He then looks up at the sky; he could see the stars out.

"Nice night out, huh?" He turns and finds a Wizardmon standing there. "I just couldn't sleep." The Wizardmon moves forward and looks up at the sky. Then turns back to him and his left hand reaches into a pocket. The Wizardmon hands him a small bracelet. "Take this, it'll enable you to visit your friend's dream just once. Then it'll disappear."

Then the Wizardmon turns to walk away. "Hey wait! Why give it to me?" The Wizardmon turns his head and answers, "Because you look like you want to talk to somebody, but you don't want to wake them. This way, you can talk to him and not have to worry about waking him up." Then he continues on his way.

He looks at the bracelet and then puts it on his left wrist. He turns back to watching the night sky. After ten minutes he heads back in. He'll try out the bracelet later, he feels ready to sleep.

(V)(V)(V)

He woke to find Kouichi still fast asleep, which was new. Usually he's the one that's still sleeping and Kouichi wide-awake. He shrugs and heads down stairs, he was going to have a look around the town before they left. He sees IceLeomon and says, "I'll be back before breakfast. I'm just going to have one last look around." IceLeomon nods and he walks out the front door.

He walks around to check things out. He sees Digimon just getting up, he smiles and waves at them. They wave back; soon he takes to the air. He circles the town, then spies a plat form for flying Digimon to land on. He looks around and then just shrugs and lands.

He didn't remember anything about a plat form, when speaking with IceLeomon. He walks over to the door and opens it. Soon he's in a short hallway, and at the end were some stairs. He stops and looks around, then his stomach growls, reminding him that he hasn't had any breakfast yet. He takes one last look around and then turns around and walks back the way he came. _'I'll come back in a few days, maybe with the others.'_ He walks out the door and then leaps into the air. He looks back and watches it disappear. He blinks a few times, and then shakes his head and heads back to IceLeomon's place. Knowing that an hour has passed.

(V)(V)(V)

He woke to find Takato gone; he changes his cloths and puts his necklace back on. He's just grins at looking at it, it was his favorite show. He finishes getting dressed and puts his other cloths into his pack. He'll have to wait to give them to Takato; he meets Zoe in the hall. They walk down the stairs.

"Seen Takato?" She asks him. "He was up before me, I couldn't fall asleep last night. I guess that's why I slept in. Also I talked to a Wizardmon last night, he gave me this." He holds up his left wrist to show his bracelet. She looks at it and then he puts his arm down. "He told me that it'd enable me to go into someone's dream. I'm thinking of using it later, after the thing on Saturday." He continues. "Hope it works." He shrugs at that.

They find themselves sitting at the table, waiting for breakfast. They hear Takato open the front door and close it. Soon Takato walks into the room. He grins at them and says, "Morning, I just wanted to have one last look around. Hope you guys didn't mind." Zoe answers, "Not at all. How long were you gone?" "Just an hour. Smells good. Hope you didn't mind me letting you sleep in Kouichi." He smiles at him and answers, "It's fine, and I was up a bit late last night. Couldn't sleep at first, just did some star gazing." Takato nods, "Same, only in that place Guilmon's living in." Zoe and him look at the kitchen door. Thinking about the fact that they have forgotten that his suppose to be a human. They might never have met Guilmon but between Takato and Calamon, they think that it's really sad that they haven't. He fingered his bracelet. _'Maybe I'll use it on Takato. I mean it would be nice to see his partner and take a look of him as a human. Later, after tomorrow.'_

Soon IceLeomon come in with the food, they wait for their host to sit down and begin, before starting themselves. IceLeomon asks Takato, "Had a good look around?" Takato nods, "Yip, I had a better look from the air. Has anybody seen anything vanish around here?" IceLeomon looks thoughtful, "Not that I've heard of. Anything you wish to talk about?" He looks over at Takato. "I think I was just hungry. I think I might have been seeing things. I'll check it out after whatever's going to happen tomorrow. I hope I could stay at your house again, if I remember." IceLeomon nods, "Your all welcome to come back, anytime. Will be a pleasant to have you again as my guests." Then they continued to eat their breakfast, each feeling that they'll meet again.

After handing their cloths to Takato, they said their good byes to IceLeomon. After being a few miles from the town, he asked Takato, "Just what did you see? It must be something if you want to come back to check it out." Takato looks thoughtful for a minute then answers, "I saw a landing plat form. I landed and found a door; I went through the door and found a short hallway and a staircase. I didn't go any farther, mostly because I remember that I was hungry. I left and as I was soaring through the air, I continued to watch it. It disappeared before my eyes. I didn't want IceLeomon looking for something that I might be the only one to find it. Hope you guys didn't mind that I lied." They shrug and then Zoe says, "It's alright, but now I want to know what's there. I thank you for waiting to explore it. It must have been hard for you not to continue look around." "Not really, I didn't want to alienate anybody, I'm just a visitor to this reality. It's not my place to find its secrets, even if I stumble on them. You guys ready?"

They nod and both became Digimon. They take off at a run. Leaving him to think on what Wizardmon had said and to what Takato had seen. He had to admit that it was really tempting to explore a ruin that nobody knows about, but they agreed to help out with tomorrows plan. Even if they didn't know just what's going on.

----------------------------------------------

Kouji just looked at both Digimon, they looked really sincere, but he had to admit that he did volunteer to baby sit them. He had promised last night at supper. Tommy was sitting with them and seemed to find it a good idea as well.

He sighs, "Fine, we'll go on a picnic. But no trying to eat everything before it's time." They just gave a yell of joy and hugged him. He had a feeling that this will give him a headache. Tommy races off to tell the others, Takuya and J.P., plus now that included Arbormon, Grumblemon, Mercuremon, and Ranamon. He just knew that this will be a huge mistake, but he said he'd take them on a picnic. He just didn't know that the others had like the idea. Now most of the Legendary Warriors and the two children Digimon were going on a picnic.

They got baskets and a few blankets to sit on. Takuya had gotten J.P. to let go of a few sodas; they had a magical cooler to keep the drinks cool. They packed lots of food; this was going to feed teenagers and Digimon. Both do eat a lot of food; it's just that Digimon need all the energy they can get.

They now were in the same forest and around the same river that Kouji had found the two Digimon. As they walked they talk about everything and anything. Mostly they talked bout the story that Takato had told the humans. They were relating the story to their Digimon friends and comrades in arms. The fact that Takato didn't seem angry with Mercuremon and Ranamon for doing what they thought was the right thing back when they first found him, made the two Digimon feel the need to apologize to him.

They all had a good laugh when the two young Digimon did their dance for Guilmon Bread. They knew that tomorrow will be rough, and they plan on enjoying this day. They didn't know just what tomorrow would bring, but they will tackle it when the time comes.

They set up their blankets and they just watch as Tommy, Ranamon, Calamon, and Lucemon plays in the water. He just wishes that his brother, Zoe, and Takato were head. He might not really like Takato, but he did have this knack of handling the two child-like Digimon. He didn't know just what it was, but he just didn't have that knack. He just wonders just where they are.

----------------------------------------------

He looks down at JagerLeowemon and then backs at Kazemon. "You want to ask him or should I?" He asks her. She looks down then answers, "I will. You spy a good place yet?" He looks around and then just shakes his head. "Nope, sorry. I guess we could always just stop and eat where he stops." She nods and flies down to talk to JagerLeowemon.

He continues to looks around for a good spot, but can only see lots of trees. Soon he looks down and finds that they are slowing down. He begins to descend down. He watches as they glow and become human once more. He just sighs at the display then lands.

He takes out the blanket and they take out the food they had. "It's almost gone. I guess we can eat the remainder of it. We'll be at the keep before night fall." Zoe says. "Ok. I just can't wait to see the others again. I wonder just how Arbormon, Grumblemon, Mercuremon, and Ranamon are doing. We didn't get to see Arbormon or Grumblemon before we left." He looks at Kouichi and says, "I hope they don't mind that I got you guys out of the keep. I think they mind have hoped to see you guys before today." Zoe says, "We wanted to come too, you know. You didn't really drag us out of the keep. We choose to come along. I, for one, don't mind coming with you. It's good to spend time with you when you're not around Calamon or Lucemon. I mean, you seem too good to be true when you're around them." He grins, "Being Guilmon's partner teaches you about patience. I also learned a thing or two about how to get them to do what you want. Sometimes it's about bribing them or just rewarding them later for doing what you want. It's nothing really. It's become second nature to me. Rika did say I'd make a better parent then Tamer. I like to think I'm good at both." Zoe and Kouichi just smile on hearing that. "So you don't like playing kid game with them?" Kouichi asks. "I do, just not all the time. It's easier when there's other Digimon around to help entertain them. Even better if they're willing to play games that they like. I do know that Guilmon and Calamon have learned to play Poker and Go Fish from Terriermon. They are getting to be better at choosing just what games they like. I think they're maturing a little. Maybe in a few years, Guilmon might want a portable TV and game system in his shelter for him to play games on. It might happen, you never know just what the future brings." They all think on just what had been said. Then they begin to eat, they all had more things to go over then before. He really misses watching Guilmon eat. A sad smile appeared on his face. Zoe and Kouichi notices it, but they don't say anything. Knowing that it had to do with his partner.

To be continued …


	8. Chapter 8

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 8

They soon came within sight of Avalon's Gate. He just sighs; its mid afternoon and they'll be there within the hour. He looks over at Kazemon, she looks at him and then they both look down at JagerLeowemon. He heads downward, "We're almost there. You want to change back before we get into the city?" "Might as well, we don't want to cause a panic. Just land some place ahead, I'll catch up." He nods and heads higher up to tell Kazemon. "We get to choose a spot to change back. Just land, he'll catch up to us." She nods and the fly on a head.

They find a road and they head a few feet away from it. Kazemon glows and soon Zoe stands there. Soon JagerLeowemon finds them and changes back into Kouichi. Kouichi grins at them and they grin back.

"Ready?" Zoe asks. They nod, and walk back to the road. "So, what are do you guys want to do first? I mean after we give the dirty cloths to someone to wash or have a hot bath?" He waits for their answers, Zoe answers first. "I wouldn't mind just sitting around, reading a book." Kouichi answers next, "I wouldn't mind just hanging out with my brother. Maybe just chat with Takuya, J.P., and Tommy. Just lie around and just enjoy the feel of being home. You?" He smiles and answers, "Check up on Calamon, then explore around the keep."

They just walk in silents, and soon they find the road and then begin to head to Avalon's Gate. They soon see the gate, it's open. They walked through it; they walk through the city until they come upon a familiar path. They soon find themselves within the keep's halls.

They're greeted by a Bearmon, "Greetings, Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Orphanimon are busy at the moment. I'll take your dirty cloths to the laundry." Zoe and Kouichi gave Bearmon their packs and then headed off to go have a bath. He begins to pull stuff out of his pouch. _'I think next time Kouichi should put his stuff into some bags. That way it would be easier to get everything out of this pouch. I'll have to remember that next time.'_ Soon, everything belonging to both Kouichi and Zoe were out of his pouch. Before he leaves he asks the Bearmon, "Is Calamon and Lucemon around?" Bearmon shook his head, "No, they went on a picnic with the other Legendary Warriors. They'll be back before supper." He looks Bearmon up and down then asks, "Do you want any help?" Bearmon looks pleadingly at him. He sighs and picks up some of the cloths that fell off. Bearmon leads him to where the laundry room is.

(V)(V)(V)

He soon finds the hot pool, it's deserted. He undresses and walks down the steps that lead down into the pool. He soon just sighs and relaxes. He looks around, knowing that Takato will soon show up.

While he waits he thinks about other things, like just how the mission is going to affect him. He just hopes that he can handle it. _'What if I make a mistake? Who'll pay the price for it? I just pray that it's not a really important mission.'_

He snaps out of his thoughts as Takato walks in. "What took you?" He asks, Takato answers, "I helped out Bearmon with the laundry. It was quite a bit of it. Next time, it might be easier to just put your cloths into bags, like what Zoe did." He watches Takato get into the hot pool. "Nice, huh?" Takato nods, "So, worried about tomorrow?" He sighs and looks over at him. "Shouldn't I be? I mean, what if something goes wrong? I wasn't worried before, but being here just makes it more real. You ever felt like this?" "Yea, lots of times, it's never easy. I think you just need to relax. Everything might not go perfectly, but you'll have a lot of people watching your back. If anything goes wrong, I could always use a card. Also try not doing everything perfectly, I read somewhere that some plans just fall apart in battle. So, just try your best. Nobody will blame you if you do." He smiles a little, "Did that help you?" "Did, I always have my friends to watch my back. That's what friends are for." He looks off into space.

After ten minutes they both get out of the pool. He changes into some clean cloths. Takato waits for him. "Turns out the other took Calamon and Lucemon out on a picnic. They'll be back soon." He nod and waves as Takato goes off. He finds the room he's sharing with his brother. He lies on the bed and soon falls asleep.

---------------------------------------------------------

Kouji and the others notice that it's getting to be nightfall. They pack up their stuff. Arbormon was carrying a sleeping Lucemon and Tommy had a sleepy Calamon resting on his head. They just all sigh, for Calamon and Lucemon thought it great fun to play hide and go seek. The only thing was, they didn't let anybody know that's the game they were playing.

Kouji just hopes that Kouichi and the others show up soon. They make their way to the city and walk through the gate. They turn to see that some Digimon were beginning to close the gate. Calamon slipped into Tommy's arms, fast asleep. "Poor guy, he's exhausted." "True, they did have quite a bit of excitement today. It's not often that we do anything like this before. Though I did enjoy myself today." Mercuremon says. "Maybe we should do this again, you know when we have some free time." J.P. suggests.

They soon are greeted by Cherubimon, "Kouichi, Takato, and Zoe are back. I believe that Takato's talking with Orphanimon, Kouichi's in Kouji and his room, and Zoe's in the library visiting with Bokomon and Neemon. Seraphimon is speaking with the commanders, going over the plan for tomorrow. Supper will be ready in a hour." Tommy and Arbormon hands over the two young Digimon. They all walk away, Kouji heads to the room he shares with Kouichi.

On entering he finds Kouichi on his bed, fast asleep. He walks over to him and wakes him.

(V)(V)(V)

He was shaken and opens his eyes to find himself looking at Kouji's face. Kouji move back a bit and he gets up. Yawning and stretching he asks, "How long have you guys been back?" His brother answers, "Wednesday. So what was it like, traveling around?" He grins and begins to tell his twin everything.

(V)(V)(V)

He waits for Orphanimon's comments. He had told her about what he had found at File Connect. She nods thoughtfully, "Something there choose to reveal this building to you. I think you might be the only one to find it. We had flown over this area many times, just to update any map we've found. You can check it out on Monday. I hope you don't mind going with the others tomorrow." He sighs and answers, "I don't mind helping out, I could always watch their back. I also tested out my D-ark with a card. I can use my D-ark on myself. Don't worry, I just used a speed card." She nods and then they both get up. "Supper should be almost done. I have to go check up on Seraphimon, remind him about supper. See you then."

They both went their separate ways, he when to his room. He sees Ranamon and waves at her. She finishes talking with the Digimon she was talking to. She then catches up to him. "I have to apologize for tying you up. I heard from Takuya and the others that you understand why Mercuremon and I did what we did. So I'm sorry for it." He scratches the back of his head, "I accept your apology. Let's start over. Hi, my name's Takato Matsuki." He holds out his hand, she takes it and says, "Hi, I'm Ranamon, Legendary Warrior of Water." They shake on it and then they let go, "So, where you headed?" She asks. "To my room, I want to get some rest before the meeting. I think it'll be a long one." She nods and then gives him a wink and smile, "Then I'll be seeing you later." She walks away from him.

He blinks and blushes at that. _'Did she just flirt with me? Why am I blushing? I just don't get women! I'm just glad that nobody can tell that I'm blushing. Great! I feel like I'm cheating … I just don't know what or who I'm cheat with! Just let it go for now, Takato. No good will come of me thinking this thoughts.'_ He turns and walks to his room.

---------------------------------------------------------

It's Saturday, they were on a Trailmon. They were soon going to stop at their stop, and then FlaWizardmon will cast a spell to hide the Trailmon. He looks at the different Digimon around him and the Legendary Warriors.

There are eight FlareRizamons, fourteen Gladimons, two Golemons, eleven Frigimons, three Yasyamons, and their commander WereGarurumon. They all look nervous, he could relate. This whole thing seems to be taking so long. It was almost noon, and before they depart they are going to have lunch.

Soon the Trailmon stops at their stop, and then tells they, "We're here!" Takuya was the one to lead them off the compartment. Soon the FlaWizardmon does his spell. FlaWizardmon would be staying with the Trailmon, just incase the enemy finds the stop point.

He turns to watch as FlaWizardmon does his spell casting. He looks over and finds Kouji also watching. He watches as the spell casting finishes and then as the Trailmon seems to disappears. FlaWizardmon then turns and finds Kouji and him looking at him. He just wave at him and then turn around and walks to where they are unpacking the food.

Ranamon turns to look at him and give him a dazzling smile. Then turns back to talk with a Yasyamon. "Looks like you got an admirer." Kouji states with amusement. He looks over at him and then says, "I think I got someone waiting for me. Besides, I think she's trying to make someone jealous. I'm just guessing." They heard, "Come and get it!" Many Digimon turn and head towards the food line. Six Frigimon were serving the food. He stands behind J.P. and in front of Kouji. They grab a plate and then walk down the line, with each Frigimon putting food onto the plate. At the end they got their forks and knives.

He sits with the Digidestine, by Kouichi and Kouji. They all begin eating. "So, I wonder just what party we'll be crashing." Tommy says. "We'll find out when we get there." Zoe states. They soon finish their helping of food. He and J.P. gather up the dirty plates, forks, and knives. J.P. and him take them over to where everyone else was headed. They place the stuff down and then head over to where the others are standing.

Soon WereGarurumon begins to brief the thirty-eight Digimon under his command. "We are here to stop whatever event they plan on having. This is the moment that we begin to fight back. So far all we have done is run away, but now is the time to give them a push. Maybe even a shove. I don't know if any of you will get deleted, but remember that you'll get reborn at the Village of New Beginnings. So unlike the enemy, you'll have another chance at life. So, this might be good-bye to some of you, but I hope to see you again. Remember that we're here to fight and to protect our home." With that they all turn and march off. Leaving him with the Digidestine, soon they all become Digimon. Takuya becomes Agunimon, Kouji becomes Lobomon, Zoe becomes Kazemon, J.P. becomes Beetlemon, Tommy becomes Kumamon, and Kouichi becomes Leowemon. Other then Kouichi and Zoe, he has never seen them Digimon.

Soon Zoe and him take to the air and the others walk. He looks to where the main group is. The whole plan was that their group attack after the main group does. He fingers his D-ark; he has it clipped onto his belt. He deck was still in the pouch.

To be continued …


	9. Chapter 9

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 9

He looks up into the sky; he finds Takato and Zoe circling them. He watches them for a while before looking around the group. They had headed southwest then just west. They plan on coming up from the south side of the enemy camp. They have been walking for an hour, and will some be getting closer.

He begins to get lost in his thoughts. _'This is Takato's first fight as Drakemon. I wonder just how strong he really is? I mean without using any cards. This will give us first hand information on just how strong he is. I've seen first hand just how strong his Black Fire and Black Fire Storm is, but what about hand to hand? This is going to be rough, on all of us.'_

He snaps out when Takato and Zoe lands a bit ahead of them. They race to meet up with them. They soon find them waiting for them. He looks at Takato and really takes a look. Takato stands close to six feet in height. He notices that Takato's feet had four clawed toes on them. Then he looks at the way Takato's wings are folded. Even folded they were long, for tips when passed his butt for about five inches. He also remembers that when Takato's wings were spread out that they are broad, for maneuverability.

"Hey, we're almost there. We'll be walking with you guys until we engage the enemy." Takato says. Takuya answers, "Good, now just how far are they?" Zoe answers, "Just a few more miles, through that grove of trees." She points to the group of trees with purplish looking leaves.

They were standing in a field with bushes and flowers. The drop off point had been rocky part of this area. The main group had to walk through a forest, while they had to walk mostly through fields and small groves of trees. They didn't mind that they were out in the open, they could easily see if any Digimon were around. They just hope that the main forces haven't run into an ambush.

Soon they enter the forest that Zoe pointed at. They soon find the camp; they find that the camp looked quite clean and that there was this Gate that had Digimon waiting in front of. As they watch a portal opens just behind the Gate. As they watch a Digimon came through the portal, Takato uses his D-ark to get information on the Digimon.

**Edemon**

Mega level Digimon

Virus type

Android. Attacks are Brain Blast and Planet Destroyer.

Takato finish whispering the information. "So, this must be what they were getting ready for. An inspection, I guess this works out." Kouji says. He nods in agreement with his brother. "Now we just wait for Mercuremon's signal." Tommy states.

They watched, as the mega level Digimon is speaking with what they guess was the commander of the invasion force that's stationed here. The portal has closed, but they didn't pay it much attention to it. Their focus was on the mega. "We're going to delete that guy. It'll change somebody's idea of continuing to conquer the Digital World." Takuya says. He looks over at him and notices the serious look on Takuya's face. "Good plan, I hope we can pull it off." Takato says.

As the mega begins to walk in front of the line of Digimon that is standing in attention. Soon they turn to the east to see the main force attacking. They see Mercuremon glow and become Sakkakumon, that's their signal to attack.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks at just what Digimon that Mercuremon has become. He's heard of Sakkakumon from the Digidestine, but it was different to see him in person. Already Sakkakumon had beamed twenty enemies Digimon into his body.

He snaps out of it to find that the Digidestine are already attacking. He races after, running as fast as his legs can move. He notices that his strides are longer and that his speed has increased. He soon finds himself stopping a punch from a Togamon. He pushes the large cactus back and then leaps up and gives Togamon a spinning kick. This knocks the plant Digimon away, and then a palish Ogremon with ice coming out of his shoulders turns to attack him. Then the Digimon looks at his crest and then begins to back away from him. Then the Digimon yells out, "The Hazard! It's here! Everybody make a run for it!" With that said the Hyogamon turns and runs for it.

He looks around to find most of the enemy Digimon looking at his Hazard symbol. They all begin to back away, most just turn and run away deserting the battle. Soon all the enemy Digimon were on the run. Trying to get away from him. He just looks around to find that even his allies don't seem to get it.

He dodges a laser blast from the Edemon. "So, this is the Hazard that legends and myth talk about. Funny, I thought you'd be bigger and meaner looking. I guess your not at full power yet, might as well get rid of you before that happens."

The Edemon begins to aim again, but Takuya punches the mega. Everybody begins to focus their attack on the mega. Edemon just flicks some of their attacks away, and then he uses Black Fire Storm on the mega. That hits its mark, and then he moves into punch the mega only to be stopped by Kouichi.

"Don't get to close, we don't know just what he's capable of. Let us handle him, you did enough by just being here." Kouichi says, he nods and just relaxes. The other Digimon that were with them move over to where he was. Giving the Legendary Warriors enough room to battle with Edemon.

He just blinks and loses himself to his thoughts. Most were about just how he could over power a Togamon and about the fact that these Digimon seem to know about Guilmon.

(V)(V)(V)

He sighs as he notices that Takato relaxes. They were still a bit worried about just why every single Digimon ran scared when they looked at the symbol on Takato's crest. He had been in a fight with three ultimate level Digimon when that Digimon yelled out his warning.

Sakkakumon glows and the enemy Digimon that were trapped in him came out. They also took one look around and then turned and ran off. Soon Mercuremon stands there, in his human looking form.

"It seems that you stand alone." Mercuremon states. "Yip, all alone. You must be quite foolish to still be ready to fight all of us. Not that I mind one bit." Arbormon says. "I'm powerful enough to take you on. Once I'm through with you so-called 'Legendary Warriors.' I'll finish off that Hazard Digimon that's over there. I'll be declared a hero once I'm through with him. Then my name will be praised throughout the territories of the GL! But tell me this, just how did you deleted Grim?"

They all blinked at that. Takuya asks, "Grim? Who's Grim?" Edemon laughs at that, "The Alphamon, the knight that was to take over." They all look at each other, then he spoke, "You mean that knight that Takato deleted before he showed up?" "Takato? Which one of you is Takato?" Edemon demands, they all point at Takato, Zoe says, "He's Takato."

That made even Edemon just blink and he just stares at Takato, "You're saying that, the Hazard Digimon is responsible? That black Digimon with the wings?" Edemon waves a tentacle over in Takato's direction. "Yes he did! Bet you didn't count on that did you!" Tommy says proudly.

The Edemon just looks dumbfoundedly at Takato. Takato scratches the back of his head, looking nervous at all the attention he's getting. "Enough talk! Fight time!" Grumblemon yells and begins the attack using his hammer. It hits Edemon, who's was still recovering from everything he's learn within the last few minutes. He lands a few feet away and he then uses Brain Blast at the group, they all dodge. They each begin to use their attack on Edemon.

Edemon sends everyone flying away. He looks focus and ready for any thing. "Hey Takuya, maybe we should try to fuse our human and beast spirits." Kouji says to Takuya. "It's worth a shot! Alright, let's give it a go!"

The others decide to attack to give them time to try to fuse their spirits together. He slides Digivolves into JagerLeowemon and uses his Ebony Blast on the mega. The others combine their attacks into one and this greatly weakens Edemon.

They stop their next round of attack when they notice that both Takuya and Kouji forms glow. Soon they watch as Aldamon and BeoWolfmon stand where Takuya and Kouji had stood as Agunimon and Lobomon.

"Impress of, but can you really think you can defeat me! I'm a mega level Digimon! I'm at the highest level! You can't possible believe that you can delete me!" Edemon charges the Warriors of Fire and Light.

"Solar Wind Destroyer!" Yells Takuya. "Frozen Hunter!" Yells Kouji. Kouji's attack froze Edemon and Takuya's Solar Wind Destroyer shatters the frozen mega. They watch as data floats around before just disappearing.

He and his friends become human again and they just look around. They just then look to the east and then they being to walk that way. Soon the other Digimon and Takato follow, the silents continues.

----------------------------------------------------------

He looks over at Takato; they were on their way back to Avalon's Gate. Everybody had just looked lost in their own little worlds. Takuya had grinned at FlaWizardmon and said that they finish their mission. He moves over closer, feeling that Takato might want to talk about it.

"So, what's up?" He whispers to Takato. Takato looks up in surprised and then give him a small smile. "Just thinking about just why they seem to know about the Hazard symbol. It's weird; I always thought that Guilmon was the only one with that symbol. Now there seems to be others that have seen it. I just thought that I imaged this symbol when I was drawing Guilmon. I don't get it, why were they all afraid of it? It's like they heard ghost stories about it." He looks over at his brother, Kouji was with WereGarurumon. They seem to be talking about what to tell the three rulers, Seraphimon, Orphanimon, and Cherubimon.

He sighs, "Different realities, I would imagine that different Digimon have shown up with that symbol all over the different realities. Who knows? We'll just have to wait, maybe we'll get the answers that you seek or maybe not. The futures ever changing, so who knows just what will happen." Takato grins and says, "Thanks Kouichi. I need to hear that. You're right; the answers are out there. I just hope I find them. I miss my home and my other friends. I don't know if I miss being human, but I do miss Guilmon. I hope that we find away to split up. I really miss just watching him goof off with Calamon or any other Digimon. I'm going to try to sleep, could you wake me when we get there?"

He nods and watches as Takato lies down. Soon he could tell that his asleep. Ranamon comes over and sits to his left side. "Rough day, huh? Look at him, kind of cute looking when he sleeps. So, what's up?" He looks over at Ranamon and then says, "Takato's wonder just why those other Digimon ran away, like their very lives depended on it. That kind of makes you wonder just what all the fuss was all about. So, you do know that he might have a girlfriend back home?"

He changes the subject. Ranamon notices what he's doing, but doesn't press the issue. She answers, "It was only a peck on the cheek, nothing more or less. That doesn't mean he's spoken for, like Takuya. I think he's very handsome. He's differently the noble type; he's kind and very caring. I don't see just how he could put up with Calamon and Lucemon like he does. Besides, she's not around and there's no harm flirting with him. Who knows just what might happen." He chuckles a bit at that. "I'll give you that he's noble, kind, and caring. I don't know about the handsome part though, I guess I'll have to take your word on that." She looks at him and then smiles and says jokingly, "I don't think you brother would approve of Takato as a brother-in-law, I believe that's the correct term. I also don't think you go that way."

She gives him a wink and gets up and leaves him with Takato. He blushes at that, he knows that she was joking with him. He might have a girlfriend if everything continues when he gets back. He's just working up the courage to ask her on a date. He sighs and notices that Kouji and WereGarurumon had finish speaking with each other. His twin is looking over at him. He waves a little at him and Kouji just nods. They both then look out a window, both wondering just what's next.

To be continued …


	10. Chapter 10

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 10

He finds Guilmon playing in the fountain. "Hey boy!" He waves at his partner. Guilmon looks up and with a yell, "Takatomon!" Guilmon runs and tackles him. He laughs as Guilmon nuzzles him. "Quit it Guilmon! That tickles!" "Ok, Takatomon." Guilmon says and gets off him. "Thanks boy, so what do you want to do?" Guilmon thinks of a few minutes and then says, "To swim!"

Guilmon turns and runs to the fountain. He just sighs and walks to the fountain. Then Guilmon promptly splashes him, he glares at Guilmon for a second before splashing him in return. They soon begin to wrestle, with him trying to pull Guilmon into the water, but having a rough go. They continue with water games until Takato begins to glow and they both look at each other sadly before he wakes.

He opens his eyes to find Tommy shaking him. He yawns and says, "We there then?" Tommy nods his head and says, "We almost forgot about you! Everyone else is out of the compartment, I agreed to get you." They both stand up and he lets Tommy lead the way. "Thanks, I was really tired. I never really expected to have my enemies running on just looking at me before. I just hope I find some answers to it." Tommy shrugs and says, "I guess, I just don't know where you can look for them. I mean you might have to go to that GL place for them. But I think we could be by your side when you go. I wouldn't mind see new places and meeting other Chosen kids. It'll be an adventure that'll have huge consequences in the long run." He thinks about it and then nods, "True, I never thought about it that way. Thanks for the ideas…"

He didn't get a chance to speak further for the simple fact that Lucemon and Calamon tackled him. He didn't fall, he just remained standing with the two Digimon hugging. Calamon was hugging him around his neck and Lucemon around his waist.

"We really missed you Takato! Happy your back!" They both say at the same time. He pats them on their heads, "I'm happy to see you guys too. But I wouldn't mind continuing to the keep. I'm hungry, I haven't had any thing to eat since we got off the Trailmon, when we made it the right spot." He looks over at Tommy, only to find that Tommy was trying not to laugh. The two Digimon did let go and grab his arms to lead him back to the keep. "Come on! The faster you finish eating, the sooner you can play tag with us!" They said at the same time, again. "See you around, Tommy." He says, before he disappears through the doors of the keep. Tommy waves at him and says, "See you later, Takato."

(V)(V)(V)

He feels really bad that he forgot to wake Takato up. Luckily Tommy didn't mind going to get him. He was with his brother and the other Legendary Warriors. They finish telling the three megas about just how the enemy reacted to seeing Takato's Hazard symbol, then about how they defeated Edemon. They were also eating some food and drinking some juice that was brought in. They were all hungry, so they really didn't mind that there's food for them to eat as they give their accounts. They all got to tell different parts of what happened, giving the others time to eat and have some juice to drink.

There's a pause before Cherubimon spoke, "This changes some things. It would seem that the enemy didn't expect that we would go on the offence of. And if their reactions to Takato are true, then those that are in high command will reconsider trying to conquer us." Seraphimon spoke next, "Agreed. We'll give them time to think about all this. If that Edemon was quite high up in command then they'll be in chaos, looking to replace him and maybe trying to keep rumor from spreading. So, we'll wait and observe what'll happen for now." They all nod in agreement with that idea. Then Orphanimon added, "I guess that's all. Thank you for your help, Digidestine." Takuya answers, "It's no problem, Orphanimon! We're happy to help you guys, right guys?" They all nod in agreement with Takuya.

Soon they finish off eating the last of the food that's on the table. Tommy enters having a grin on his face. "Takato's with Calamon and Lucemon. I believe that they plan on having a game of tag." They just shook their head at that.

They look around and then he says, "I'm going to go visit Bokomon and Neemon, so who wants to come along?" J.P. asks. Takuya and Zoe didn't want to go, but Tommy, Kouji, and him. They didn't really have anything better to do. Arbormon, Mercuremon, Ranamon, and Grumblemon all had things to do as well. Soon all that remained in the meeting room were J.P., Tommy, Kouji, and himself. They get up and leave. The three megas had already left before Tommy had entered the room.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches Calamon and Lucemon plan something. Even if they're quite a few miles away, all he had to do was focus on them and he can saw them almost perfectly. He sniffed the air to smell the scents of flowers and of the kitchen. He was also tried to listen in on what their planning but the wind wasn't coming his way. The tip of his tail twitches like cats, moving without him really knowing.

He just sighs and without really thinking about it, he move higher up into the air. He then began to fly in lazy circles around the garden. He waits for them to finish up. _'I bet that they're changing the rules. Calamon always did like to come up with new rules. I bet that there going to be goofy and highly stupid. I wonder if Seraphimon has any card decks? I think Lucemon might like to learn how to play Go Fish or Poker. I know Calamon likes to play card games. Or maybe J.P. might have a deck? I'll have to ask. Finally, their done.'_

Calamon and Lucemon begin to fly towards him. He waits for the last minute before dodging their hands. "Try again!" He yells as he goes into a nosedive. "That's not fair! You were ready!" Calamon says, and then they follow him in his dive.

He does acrobatics in the air, barrel rolls and sharp turns. He was having a grand old time. Calamon and Lucemon had given up trying to follow him but they were making plans on being a step ahead of him. With his reaction time, he could dodge or retag them before they even knew what happened.

In the end the two Digimon just sat down and watched as he continues his acrobatics. They cheered and gasp as they watch him do amazing tricks in the air. Soon he lands where they are sitting. Calamon and Lucemon both clap at him. He bows and then walks over to the two. He sits down by them.

"That was amazing Takato! And to think you couldn't fly last weekend. You're really getting the hang of flying!" Lucemon says. He blinks at that, and then he remembers that. "I haven't really notice that, but your right. I really have gotten better, huh?" Both Digimon nod their heads. "You're really good! It's like you were never human to begin with." Calamon says.

He looks startled at that. _'Their right, I almost keep forgetting that I'm not suppose to have wings. I wonder if I'm ever going to be human again. I wonder what my parents would think if they saw me right now? Just last year, they were coming to terms with the fact that I have a Digimon. How will they react to their son being a Digimon?'_ He was snapped out of his thoughts to find Lucemon waving a hand in front of his snout.

"I think he's out of it, now what?" Lucemon asks Calamon. "Sorry, you guys. I guess you two want to ask me something?" He looks at the two of them. "Yea, could you come with us to the hot pool? We're not aloud to swim in it without someone watching us." Calamon says. He nods and gets up. "Ok then, lets go." The two Digimon exchanged grins and followed him to the baths.

(V)(V)(V)

Kouji and him are just staring at just what Takato, Calamon, and Lucemon were doing. They came here to have a relaxing bath, but they have found the three of them splashing each other. They soon stopped and stared at the twins.

"Sorry about that, they started it." Takato states. He folds his wings back up. For Takato had been using them to help splash the two Digimon. "You didn't get us wet, we just came here to get cleaned up before supper." He answers. Takato turns to the two Digimon and says, "Ok you two, no more playing water games. Just relax and enjoy the heat, ok?" The two Digimon nods in agreement with Takato.

He knows that his twin was skeptical about Takato's influence over the two Digimon. He walks into the pool and sits down on one of the stones. He looks over at his brother, and then watches as Kouji slowly walks into the water. Kouji's not taking his eyes off of Calamon and Lucemon. The two-said Digimon don't seem to notice that Kouji's staring at them, for they are on their backs, floating in the water. They were looking up at the ceiling, talking about what they saw on the ceiling.

With the two young Digimon busy, that leaves the twins and human turned Digimon silent. "So, had a good rest?" He asks, breaking the silence. "Yea, I was with Guilmon. We were having a water fight with Guilmon before waking. So, what have you guys been doing after reporting to Seraphimon, Orphanimon, and Cherubimon?" It was Kouji that answered. "We when to visit some old friends at the library." Takato nods, "Bokomon and Neemon, right?" "Yip, I didn't know them very well. Not like the others, nice guys." He says. "What you guys told me about them, they kind of reminded me of Kazu and Kenta."

They didn't say anything for a while. After fifteen minutes Takato begins to get out of the pool. "Come on Calamon. You too Lucemon, it's time to go dry off. We'll leave Kouji and Kouichi alone, k?" The two Digimon swam over to where Takato was and got out. "Bye you two! See you at dinner!" They watched as the three of them leave.

"I can't believe they listened to him." Kouji says with awe in his voice. He grins at that. "They really like him. I guess it doesn't hurt that Takato's always ready to play with them. I don't know just how he does it, but he must have more going for him other then being a great cook. Monday, I believe, is when Takato will be heading back to File Connect. You want to go with him?" He asks his brother. "I'll think about it. You want to go?" He waits for a minute then answers, "I wouldn't mind taking a look at what he has found. I think Zoe might stay here, with Takuya. Tommy and J.P. might just stay here as well, that's my guess any way. I could be wrong." They just remained silent for a few minutes, and then Kouji sighs and says, "I'll go with the two of you. I might as well." He smiles at his younger brother, "Thanks Kouji. I'll tell him tomorrow."

(V)(V)(V)

He leads a sleepy Calamon and Lucemon to his room. He helps put Calamon onto his bed, in an hour they'll be ready for supper. He looks at the two, smiling. _'I guess I'll have to make some cream puffs and Guilmon Bread tomorrow. They have been behaving, at less around me. I wonder just what Monday will bring? I hope Calamon and Lucemon don't mind that I'll be leaving so soon. I guess I better make tomorrow special for them. I have to admit that Calamon has been sticking around people longer then he use to. I guess he finds this really interesting. Well, I feel better knowing at the little guy is safe and happy.'_

He finds his card deck and begins to play a single game. Not really caring if he finishes it before supper.

**To Readers:**

I know that some of you have been wondering when Takato will Digivolve. I believe that I'm the only one who knows the answer to that question. I have some ideas on what kind of Digimon Takato will Digivolve into, but the need for him to Digivolve will come later. So be patient, it'll come when I believe the time is right. Thanks for your review!

To be continued …


	11. Chapter 11

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 11

They made it to File Connect with easy, mostly traveling on foot. Takato would only fly ahead for a few miles, mostly to check it out and to pick a spot for lunch. They soon would come to the town.

He shifted his pack a bit. They had decided that Takato would carry the food, and that they would carry their cloths. He looks over at his brother, Kouji. Kouji looks over at him and gives him a small smile. Then they focus on the road before them. He's happy that his brother decided to come.

They had updated the other Digidestine's D-tectors maps on Sunday. It was now Tuesday; they had camped out the night before. They didn't mind taking their time, for they definitely have at the very least five days, or right now four days to check out just what it was that Takato visited last Friday.

Takato stops and look around, "Does this look familiar Kouichi?" He looks around then nods. "I believe so, aren't we a few miles from the village?" Kouji pull out his D-tectors and the map comes out. They did find themselves closer then they thought they'd be, even without using their beast forms. Kouji puts his D-tector away and then moves his pack up higher onto his shoulders.

"We've been making good time, it's about supper time. Look at the sun, it's getting ready to set. Let hurry to IceLeomon's place." They nod in agreement with Kouji's statement. They continue their walk; soon they begin to spy buildings on the horizon.

By the time the sky was darkening they find their way to IceLeomon's house. Takato knocks on the door and IceLeomon opens up. On seeing Takato and Kouichi, he greets them with a warm smile and invites them in.

"Thank you, sir. My name's Kouji Minamoto, I'm Kouichi's brother." Kouji introduces himself as the door behind them closes. "I'm honored to met you, Kouji. I welcome you into my home. I hope your stay will be a pleasant one." IceLeomon says, and then he leads the three of them into the living room.

Kouji and Kouichi take off their packs and IceLeomon takes them out of the room, "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll put your packs into the rooms you'll be using. It's a good thing that I haven't started supper or I'd have to make some more food." They look at where IceLeomon had disappeared to and they said in unison, "Thank you very much, sir."

They just relaxed, waiting for IceLeomon to reenter the room. The silence continues, and they didn't mind it one bit. After fifteen minutes IceLeomon came back into the room.

"It's started, so I believe that Zoe decided to stay behind?" IceLeomon asks. "Yes, she decided to wait. They might be showing up later on. It depends what happens with the invaders. So, I hope you don't mind if more then just Zoe shows up." He says, Takato agrees with him. "I have a friend that wouldn't mind the company, he's a Monodramon. So, I hope whatever it is that you came for, I hope you find it." IceLeomon says. "Thanks, I hope to find it tomorrow, so I'll be up early." Takato says.

With a nod IceLeomon when to check up on supper. Some how Kouji and him fell asleep. Leaving Takato awake.

(V)(V)(V)

He looked around only to find Kouichi and Kouji asleep. He didn't feel the bit tired, but then, he didn't really carry anything heavy, his dimensional pouch didn't feel any heavier then without the stuff in it. It was just how it was, as long as it's in the pouch, he didn't have to worry about it being heavy. He also has a lot of room in it.

Besides the food and water, he also has torches, rope, and other handy things. He hope that his prepared for exploring that building. He still remembers that he didn't really need that much light, it was mostly because of the kind of Digimon he was. Good night vision to help him out in dark places.

After an hour has passed, IceLeomon comes back into the room. He get up and motions to Kouichi, IceLeomon nods his head and walks over to Kouichi. He mean while walks over to Kouji, soon he shakes Kouji awake. Kouji blinks and he points over where Kouichi and IceLeomon were heading. "Supper's ready, hope you don't mind that I let you two sleep." He says to Kouji. "No problem, I guess it must have been the weight of the packs and the walking without any snack breaks that did it. Come on, let's go eat." Kouji gets up and walks through the door that IceLeomon and Kouichi walked through. He soon follows Kouji through the door.

(V)(V)(V)

He fingered his bracelet, he almost forgot about it. He decided to try it out. Checking to see if Kouji was fast asleep, he gets up and heads out of the room, and down the hall to where Takato's sleeping.

As he walks into the room he notices that Takato was sleeping on his left side, his tail curled up around his left leg. His right wing was covering the top part of Takato's body. Guessing that late, Takato will roll over onto his stomach later, he walks over. He takes off his bracelet and with his right hand, touches Takato with his right hand that also has the bracelet in it.

He finds himself in a park. He looks around and finds the night sky; the moon is full and the star look so different then from his real world. He hears the sound of laughter and decides to follow it. As he walks through the trees, the sound of laughter got louder.

Soon he finds himself looking at a boy with brown hair with yellow goggles on his head. The other teen was wearing a blue T-shirt that had an image of a silver something, he couldn't tell from he's standing. The teen was also wearing a pair of blue jeans. The teen was trying to pick up the red Digimon that's with him.

He looks at the Digimon that's with the teen, it looks to be a red dino. The Digimon had this ears that reminded him of when Seraphimon was Patamon. He also notices that this Digimon was large and had black markings.

Then it hit him, the teen and the red Digimon were Takato and Guilmon. He just looked stunned; he was looking at Takato as a human. It was so different then sees him as a Digimon. It was then that the large rookie stopped laughing and sniffed the air. The human Takato, too, stopped laughing.

"What's wrong, boy?" He was surprised at the sound of his voice; it was so different then when Takato's a Digimon. The red Digimon turns his way, and he finds himself looking into Guilmon's yellow eyes. Then Takato turns around and he looks into Takato's hazel eyes. _'They look red.'_ Was all he could think about.

They just stood facing each other. Then Guilmon asks, "Takatomon, who's that?" He blinks at the childish voice. Takato sighs and says, "Don't call me a mon around others, boy. This is Kouichi, Kouichi this is my partner Guilmon." He nods, finding himself unable to speak.

Takato and Guilmon approach him. He also moves forward, they soon meet up. He takes a closer look at Guilmon and finds the black Hazard symbol on Guilmon's crest.

He soon finds his voice and says to Guilmon, "You look just like Calamon described you." Guilmon smiles at him and says, "You look like what Takato told me too! Did you bring any Guilmon Bread with you?" Guilmon ask hopefully. "I don't think so, boy. How did you get here?" Takato asks him. "Can we go sit down some where to talk about this? This whole thing is kind of stunned me. I hope you don't mind me being here, though." Takato smiles at him and answers, "We can sit over by Guilmon's shed. And I'm just surprised, that's all. Come on Guilmon, we can play after wards." "Ok Takato. Will he be playing with us?" Guilmon asks. "It's up to Kouichi, boy. Come on."

Takato leads them onto a walkway. He looks at the shed, he goes up to the door and looks in. "Was there a battle in there?" He asks, Takato just laughs at that. "No, Guilmon's handy work, right boy?" Takato says. He looks over at Guilmon with an eyebrow raised. Guilmon says, "I make the place bigger, so that I feel smaller! It's also great place to bury bread and other food. Then it's fun to dig it up and eat it!" He looks back into the shed then he sits down on the steps. Takato and Guilmon also sit down.

There's a pause then he sighs and starts, "Do you remember that bracelet that I was wearing? The one on my left wrist?" Takato nods. "I got that the night that I couldn't sleep. It came from a Wizardmon that I met that night. He told me about what it can do, so I decided to save it. I just remembered before I fell asleep. I got up and decided to try it out. I could only use it once. I didn't know just what I was expecting. I'm glad that I used it. It's been nice to meet your partner and to see you as a human." Takato nods and sighs, "I guess it must be odd for you, you've only seen me as a Digimon, not as a human. I only seem to be human here, well until Guilmon and I split up."

He couldn't deny that see him as a teenager didn't give him a large shock, but he was getting use to it. "I know that your suppose to be a human, it's just kind of freaky to see you as a human. You never did tell us what you looked like as a human. I also didn't know that you liked to wear goggles. Anything else I should know?" Takato thinks about it and answers, "I know that Tai and Davis also liked to wear goggles, Tai gave his to Davis, but he did wear them as a kid. I guess you can safely say that there's four goggle wearing Chosen out there." Both Takato and him grin about that.

"Takato, can we play now?" Guilmon asks. "Ok, boy. You want to watch Kouichi?" They all got up and he answers, "I guess I wouldn't mind playing a game or two." Guilmon yells, "Yea! Lets play!"

They played tag and they also splashed each other in the fountain. Soon they tire of playing games. They find a good spot and just lie there, looking up at the night sky.

Soon Takato and him begin to glow and they said bye to Guilmon before they woke.

He finds himself back in his bed. He turns to look at Kouji, only to find that he's sleeping. He didn't know just how he got back to his bed, but he did get up and get dressed. After he was finished changing, he woke his bother.

"Come on Kouji, Takato's up and might be ready to go." He tells his brother; soon Kouji's up and changes his cloths. Soon they're out of their room and head to where the table is. IceLeomon greets them as he sits there, eating breakfast. They also notice that Takato was already eating as well.

He remembers just what he had seen in Takato's dream world. It was so different to know just what Takato looks like as a human. "Thanks for breakfast IceLeomon." He says as he sits down and begins to help him self to the food. IceLeomon nods, "You're my guests, it's my responsibility to see that you've eaten a good meal. I'll look after you things while you're away. We don't know how long you'll be exploring around. So don't worry about anything." Kouji says, "Thank you, sir. I hope we're not gone for too long."

They soon finish off the food, they take their leave. They watch as Takato takes to the air. They follow him through the town. They soon make their way into where Takato's circling. They look down at where Takato circling around, they didn't see anything of a few minutes then something shimmers and for a second they saw a wall.

They watch as Takato seems to disappears, then they find ropes coming out of nowhere. They look at each other and then they walk over at the two ropes, they begin to climb up the ropes. Soon they find Takato standing there. Takato begins to roll the ropes back up. Then puts them into his pouch.

They then turn to the door and they let Takato lead the way. Takato takes out a torch as he opens the door. They walk a foot away from Takato as they enter the hallway. Soon Takato moves over to let them look at the stairway. Takato hands Kouji the torch and then Takato looks at them then sighs and begins to walk down the stairs. With them following him.

**To Firehedgehog:**

I have tried to E-mail you, but I get error messages. Maybe if you E-mail me first, then I could send you the description as a reply.

To be continued …


	12. Chapter 12

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 12

They made their way down the stairs. Kouji holds the torch up high, all they could see was stairs, and they walk through some hallways that continue to lead them to more stairs. He had his D-tector out, trying to get readings. He had no luck, he got nothing from it.

Takato stops and turns to face them, "You guys getting tired?" Kouji and him look at each other, he shrugs. "Getting there, so what time is it?" Kouji checks his watch on his right arm. He had packed one, but didn't see the point in wearing it, that is until today. "It's been two hours. This is taking a long time. How can this all be in one building?" Kouji says. Takato answers, "Might be like my pouch, you know, a dimensional pocket. Just a thought, you guys want to keep going?" They think about it for a few minutes and then he answers, "Next hallway, we should be close to one by now." Takato nods and then continues down the stairs.

Soon they did find a hallway, but unlike the others there's more hallways connected to it. They also spy another case of stairs. They stop, and Kouji hands him the torch for a minute. Kouji runs his hand across the wall, soon Kouji seems to find what he's looking for, a large enough crack in the wall to hold the torch. He hands the torch back to Kouji and Kouji uses his strength to push the torch in.

After that's done, they turn to see what Takato's doing. They find that Takato has brought out some water. He hands them each a bottle of water, they drink some and just sit around. "So, where to next?" He asks Takato. "Let's vote, I mean we now have plenty of choices to choose from." Takato says. "I vote we take a look around, we might get an idea of what this place is." Kouji says. He nods, "I agree, what about you Takato?" "Don't see why not. So do we split up or stick together?" Both Kouji and him answer at the same it, "Split up." They look at each other and then they laugh.

"I'm going to guess that this is a twin thing, huh?" Takato asks, he takes out another torch and hands it to him. "I'm going to the right, ok?" They stop laughing and just nods; on their faces were great grins. They watch as Takato gets up and walks toward the hallway on the right.

They wait for a few minutes, and then they both get up. "I guess we'll be going left. So, do you want to stick together until we hit a fork?" Kouji asks him. "Why not, nothing wrong with that. I wonder why nobody knows about this place. Let gets going." He says and they both get up. Kouji take his torch out of the wall. He looks at his and finds the button that turns on the light for the torch. They begin their way down one of the left hallways.

(V)(V)(V)

He left the two on the floor, he didn't need any light for there seems to be enough light for him to see. They had walked down nine hallways, without counting the first level. He didn't know why, but this place felt comfortable. It was like this place was meant for him. That just puzzles him, why would a place like this be build before he even existed? He had a feeling that some of the answers he's looking for were here.

He sighs and looks up at the ceiling. He again looks down and at the walls around him. He didn't see anything different, just walls made out of stones. As time passes, he continues to walk on; he didn't see any other rooms.

Then at the end of the hallway was a room. There was no door, just an opening. He walks through the doorway. He stops; he's looking at a Digimon that looked like an Apemon. Instead of golden fur and red markings, this one had purple fur and orange markings. The band on his right arm was red and had a white symbol of the Hazard on it. Also this Apemon's skin was dark green.

He found himself looking into red eyes of this odd Apemon. "Who are you?" He finally asks. "I am LoreApemon, I was infused with a small amount of power from the Hazard. The one that did this was one of the splinter of the Hazard that invaded this world, in a time long forgotten." He blinked in surprised on hearing LoreApemon's voice, for this one was a female. "What do you mean about a splinter of the Hazard? And just what is this place?" He asks. LoreApemon answers, "Once the Hazard used to invade other realities. It would splinter into other Digimon; some became rookies, while others became champions. These rookies and champions missions were to send the natives into uproars. It was the ultimates and megas that were made to attack the armies of the natives. The whole point that the Hazard was doing was to find it's destined partner. It searched and searched, attacking realities, hoping on hope that the one it was looking for would show itself. Its favorite form was a dark dragon type Digimon, I believe that you know this form." He nods; he really does know that dragon. He sometimes still has nightmares about him.

LoreApemon continues, "Many realities fell to the Hazard, leaving nothing left. You see, humans have not always been close to the Digital World. There are realities out there that have never interacted with Digimon or even came up with them. Some of these worlds have use magic, and have other creatures living along side the humans that live there. Others never have anything special to brag about. The only reason that I know this is because the Hazard had once sent some of its essence to some of these worlds. Then the Hazard decided that what it was looking for would never be found on any of those realities. It again focused its searches to the Digital world realities. You see the gates to this place are scattered over the realities that the Hazard lost interest in. It didn't always destroy the realities that it searched in; it would just leave without warning. The natives would then make stories and myth about the Hazard. Some Digimon learned how to contain its essence; the Hazard didn't care about this, for it was getting tired of looking through realities. So it left these Digimon believe that they could defeat it by capturing its essence. The reality was that it was only making it stronger with every piece they captured. For it has never been whole, for over times long forgotten, it had always been splintered. For more parts of it looking in different realities, the more realities it could search. Then the Digimon that learned to capture its essence finished getting all of it, making it whole for the first time beyond the beginnings of it's search. Then you came into being, instead of it finding you, you called to it. Giving it a new form, and at long last the Hazard found that it was searching for. Now the two of you are together, and that's all that matters." LoreApemon finishes and he just stares, trying to get a handle on just what he has been told.

After ten minutes of not saying anything, he finally asks, "Then why is the Hazard and I fused together?" LoreApemon answers, "It's just how the reality you have enter decided to show you as. It'll take a great deal of energy to get you split apart, but I believe that you will find away. I'll be happy to guide you and your friends around this place. There is much that the Hazard has collected over the ages it's been around. It would be my honor to show you around this place." LoreApemon states. "Thank you, but how did you know that I would come this way?" He was a bit confused on how she knew that he would come down this hallway. LoreApemon smiles a bit at the question, "I knew that you would find me, for the little amount of Hazard that I posses would attract you to me." He understood what she meant.

He sighs and looks around the room; it looked to be a bedroom. For he spied beds to sleep on. He then turns to look at LoreApemon, "Lets go find my friends, and thank you for the history lessen." LoreApemon nods and he lets her to lead the way to his friends, knowing that she would have better luck then him at finding Kouji and Kouichi sooner.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks around the room he has entered. He was on guard for any traps that might be around here. He looks at all the scrolls and books that were in the room. There didn't seem to be any torches or light source for the room. All he had was one torch, sighing he turns to leave the room when he hears Kouji yelling for help.

He runs out of the room, and makes his way back to where they split up. Soon he's racing down the hallway that Kouji took. He then sees Takato with a purple Digimon; the Digimon was holding his brother in its arm. "Kouji!" He yells and they all turn to look at him. "Hey, just wait Kouichi! It's not what it looks like!" Takato says with his arms straight out in front of him. "You can put me down now. I'm certain that my leg doesn't hurt that much." He hears Kouji says, he slows down. The purple Digimon put his brother down gently. Takato puts his arms down and then says, "I like to greet LoreApemon. She decided to show us around, hope you guys don't mind."

Kouji and him share a look at each other, then Kouji says, "I wondering if you're the guarding of this place?" LoreApemon says, "More like care taker of this place. The gates don't let anybody through, you see; this place was created by the Hazard. And only the Hazard could enter into this place. I believe that you were not stopped had to be do to this one." LoreApemon says, waving a hand towards Takato. "My name is Takato." Takato says. Again Kouji and him share a look. They both were surprised to find that LoreApemon was a female Digimon, plus the fact that this place was connected to Takato.

"It's nice to met you LoreApemon. My name's Kouji Minamoto. This is my twin brother Kouichi Kimura." Kouji says to LoreApemon. LoreApemon nods and then points to the room that Kouji had found. "It room contains scrolls and books about histories of defeated realities. There's more room that have more scrolls and books about histories. This whole level contains historical information ranging from simple stone tablets and tapestries to scrolls, books, and CDs. If you want, we could stop in here for you to have a look through some of the scrolls and books. Unless you wish to go some place else?"

"This is good enough. Will these items be ok to look through? I mean, they must be ancient." He asks. "This place has keeps everything from getting too damage. Even if it does, this place will repair the item or recreate it. So don't worry about a thing." LoreApemon says with a small smile. "Cool." Takato says and then walks into the room to find something to read. "But wouldn't these be hard for us to read? You know, different written languages?" Kouji asks as he follows Takato into the room. He walks behind LoreApemon. She answers, "As long as you know how to read and that Takato doesn't mind you reading any of this things, then I believe that you will understand what the writing is." He thinks about it for a minute then says, "The Hazard must have thought of everything in creating this place." LoreApemon nods her head in agreement.

To be continued …


	13. Chapter 13

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 13

They only really stopped to eat and sleep. They have been in this dimensional pocket for five days for it was now Sunday. They were still on tenth level, looking through books and other items. They found new Digivolutions lines that had existed and might one day exist again. They really wanted to read as much as they could, before they left. For they didn't know when they would get a second chance to look through this stuff.

He was looking through some scrolls about old stories about this Dark Ocean place. He did remember about what Takato had said about the place. It would seem that is attaches itself to different realities to survive. It would always try to trap a person or Digimon that welds the powers of Light. The Dark Ocean would feed off that beings Light until it becomes empty. Letting that being hollow and broken. Luckily, some Digimon put a spell on the Dark Ocean, the spell is still active. It was a spell of unluckiness, meaning that it would be unlucky in holding onto that being. That was good to know, though the parts that some realities had used the Dark Ocean as a prison. This was only used in extreme measures, like how the Digidestine that Takato knows, about how they trapped Daemon in the Dark Ocean.

He was also hoping to get information about the Dark Spore, but couldn't find anything. He sighs and turns to leave the room, he finds his brother standing by the door. "It's getting to be that time, Kouichi. It's almost 10:00 am. Ready to go?" His brother asks him. He takes one last look around and nods. Kouji turns and leads the way to where Takato and LoreApemon were waiting. They had their torches in their hands; he was holding his with his right, while Kouji was holding his with his left.

Soon they see Takato and LoreApemon. "Ready to go?" Takato asks. "Ready and thank you LoreApemon for your hospitality." Kouji says, LoreApemon nods her head, "I enjoyed have you here. I hope that you'll visit again." Then LoreApemon heads to the other stairway that leads down, they followed Takato to the one that leads up. They had eaten at 6:00 am; giving them about four hours for one last look around.

After a few hours they make it to the landing, they sit down to have lunch. "There's not a lot left, so eat up. Then we could be some more supplies at the town. Hopefully, we'll be back here by Tuesday." Takato says. "As long as there are no missions to do." Kouji says. "I agree, I wonder if Zoe and the others decide to show up?" He says. "True, I wonder if I could Digivolve?" The twins look at Takato to find him having a dreamy look on his face. "We'll never know until you do, so all we have to do is go out the way we came, right?" He asks Takato. Takato snaps out of his thoughts and look thoughtful. "I don't really know, you see I asked LoreApemon about it. You see, that door," Takato points to the door at the end of the hallway, "Can lead to any of the other realities that the Hazard lost interest in and connect to this place. So, I guess we all better think about your guys Digital World or we might in up in some other Digital reality. I don't think it'll lead to Ranma's or to the Dire's reality though. For Ranma's world do not interact with any Digital World and the Dire's reality is brand new. So, I hope the two of you have a really good idea on getting back, for I haven't really explored that reality other then some of this area around Avalon's Gate." Takato finishes saying and begins to eat more of his food.

'_Great, pressure. Just what we need, but he's right. We do know our Digital reality better then he does. But I wonder about the other Digidestine world, I mean. Maybe there's information about the Dark Spore. But I guess I'll never really know. I might never get to visit that reality.'_ He thought as he ate his lunch.

(V)(V)(V)

He tried not to groan at the thought of not making it back to the right reality. He feels responsible for Kouji and Kouichi, if it wasn't for him, they would never be in this predicament with the way home. He really did enjoy talking with LoreApemon, for she had a lot of time to read and watch everything that was in this dimension. He did want to know if that door that they had enter would take them to other realities and found out that it would. He now was in doubt and wishing he had never asked that question for as long as he believes that it would lead back to File Connect, everything would have been fine. Now he had to hope and believe that Kouji and Kouichi would think really hard about the right Digital World. He did kind of trust Kouichi a bit more then Kouji. Mostly because he knew Kouichi better then Kouji. So, he hopes that Kouichi's focus on going to the right place. He really, really hopes so.

After taking the garbage and the two torches from Kouji and Kouichi, he gets up and heads for the door. He could hear the twins behind him; he takes a deep breath and opens the door. Then walks through the door. He holds a hand over his eyes, for it was really bright. He continues to walk forward, to let Kouji and Kouichi have room to come out. He's eyes adjust to the light and he takes a look around. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this place look familiar. He looks over at the door and notices that it looked off color. That makes him feel even more uneasy. He listens for any voices from the town, he didn't hear anything. He looks over at Kouji and Kouichi and just sighs. "I don't think we're in right reality." "How do you know?" Kouji asks, as he looks around. "I don't hear any normal sound of an active town. File Connect's a big town and has a good has a good trade going on. I don't hear anything that sounds that tell me that we're in a town. I think we're in a forest, though."

He sniffs the air; all he could smell was flowers and trees. He stretches his wings to their fullest. "So, now what? I could just go have a look around. Or we could go together? Which one will it be?" He asks the two brothers. "I think it'll be better if we go together. I mean if there's any trouble, we can then face it together." Kouichi says. Kouji nods his head in agreement.

He then goes through his pouch, looking for some rope. Finally he finds some and takes it out. Kouji and Kouichi each take one and then look for a place to tie their rope to something. He just watches as they climb down. He waits for them to finish their climb then he unties the ropes and rolls them up. Then puts them back into his dimension pouch. He then leaps off the plat form.

He lands easily; they turn to look at the buildings. They find that the build already has disappeared. He takes a look around the forest. He then sniffs and head to his right. Kouji and Kouichi follow him.

(V)(V)(V)

They found themselves by a river. They haven't encountered any Digimon yet, but the found traces of them. He sighs and asks, "Could we stop and maybe fill up the bottles?" Takato nods. Both Kouji and him take out their bottles that Takato gave them on Wednesday. They fill them up and they kept an eye on Takato. He notices that Takato was seemed confused about something.

After they finish filling up the bottles, he looks over at his brother. He finally gives into the feeling of curiosity and asks, "What's wrong?" Takato doesn't answer for a few minutes, then, "I feel like I should know where we are. I just can't figure it out how though. I really should know where we are." Takato trails off.

Then they hear some body scream and they take off at a run. They soon find a girl and a boy about Tommy's age in trouble. There was a group of Bakamon. Takato jumps into action, "Black Fire!" He's attack shots over the nineteen Bakamon, scaring them. A Digimon with a white helmet stands by Takato and another Digimon covered with gold armor stands in front of the other two people.

Kouji and he move over to them, "You guys alright?" He asks. The girl turns and nods, "Thanks, I've never seen a Digimon like your guys partner. I'm Yolei and this is Cody." He knows that he should know those names but their names escape him for the moment. "My name is Kouichi and this is my twin brother, Kouji. That's Takato."

Yolei raises an eyebrow, but they turn back to what Takato and the other Digimon were doing. They find a stand off between Takato and the two Digimon that were standing between them and the Bakamon. One of the Bakamon turns tail and runs, the others look at each other, and then they follow that one's example. Soon only Yolei, Cody, the two Digimon that stood with Takato, then his brother and himself.

Kouji and him watch in amazement when the two Digimon glow and become smaller. They have never seen this before, but they watch as Yolei and Cody run over to the Digimon.

"Hawkmon!" Yolei says with worry. "Are you all right?" She asks Hawkmon. "I'm alright, Yolei. Really! It could have been rough if it hadn't been for him." Hawkmon waves towards Takato.

(V)(V)(V)

He just stares at just whom he had helped rescued. _'I can't believe I just meet Cody and Yolei. I've just met the last two members of the second group of Digidestine. So that's why this reality looked so familiar, this is just like the TV show. I wonder just what Tai looks like in real life?'_

He snaps out of it when Hawkmon waves towards him. "So, is he the two of you guys partner? Or is one of your partners still off some where?" Yolei asks Kouji and Kouichi. "I'm not their partner, I'm just their friend. Trust me, they don't need partners." He says. "Then how did you get here?" Cody asks. "We came through a door that lead us here. This isn't our native reality." He answers. Kouji and Kouichi nods in agreement with what he said. "So then, just where do you come from?" Yolei asks. Kouji answers that, "Hard to say, we're from a Digital reality that is home to the Legendary Warriors. I don't think you have ever hear of them?" Cody and Yolei look at each other then back at Kouji and Kouichi. "No, so then, who are you?" She points to him. "My name's Takato. I meet Kari and the others. I don't know if you've heard from them?" He asks. They just stare at him then Yolei says, "Aren't you suppose to be human? That's what we heard from Izzy and the others last Friday. Are where's you partner Guilmon?"

He blinks at the information. He says, "Guilmon and I are fused together for the time being. So, I don't suppose you know a place where we could spend the night?" Yolei and Cody think for a minute and then Yolie says, "I guess we better ask the others. Tai and the others would like to meet the three of you. So, I'm guessing you haven't found Davis yet?" "Sorry, I haven't. I'm decided to help Kouji and Kouichi out. Some dimensional invaders are trying to conquer their Digital World." He says.

Yolei nods and then she begins to lead them to down a path. He sends Kouji and Kouichi an apologetic look to them. They give him small nods, and then they follows Cody with his partner and Yolei with her partner down the path.

To be continued …


	14. Chapter 14

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 14

They stop in front of a TV. He wasn't impressed; it looked to be a beat up TV. How could this thing transport them to the real world? He just knew that Kouji felt the same way; he just hopes this had better be a joke, for he didn't find this funny.

"This is it?" His brother asks the others. "This is it. Why, how else do you get to the real world?" Yolei asks pointly looking at Kouji and him. _'I think it might be a good idea to just let Takato hand these guys. He does know this world better then we do.'_ "Sorry, it's just we usually travel by Trailmon back to the real world." He states to Yolei and Cody. "What's a Trailmon?" Cody asks, he could see that the young kid wanted to learn more about them. "It's a Digimon that uses train tracks. They're common where they come from. So, just where are we landing?" Takato asks Yolei. "I think back at Cody's place. While you guys get cleaned up, we'll make some phone calls. Good thing that you already have cloths. I don't really know just what to have you guys wear while you dirty ones are getting washed. Ok, everybody hold out your Digivices," Takato, Kouji, and him did as they were told, "And Digi-Port Open!" Yolei says.

They get sucked into the TV. Soon they find themselves in a dog pile with Takato, Yolei, Cody, and the two rookie Digimon. After much effort and painful jabs and slaps, they untangled themselves. "Remind me to thank Seraphimon and the others for only sending a Trailmon to get us. It's easier then always finding yourself on the floor with people around you." He says and he fingered his necklace. "Really? You get used to it by now. So, who's going to use the shower first?" Yolei asks as she looks between Takato, Kouji, and him. "They can go first, I need it as bad. I also nominate Kouichi to go first." Takato says. The other two Digimon nod their heads in agreement. "He really does smell rather strong. Mush stronger then his brother." Hawkmon says. He just sighs, "Do I really smell that bad?" Takato thinks for a minute then nods, "You did spend more time around those books, much longer then Kouji or myself. Sorry, hope there's no hard feelings." Takato looks really sorry about bringing it up. "Ok then, just lead the way to the washroom, please." He says. Cody nods and he follows him to the washroom. He takes his pack out of the room.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches as Kouichi left the room with Cody. The two rookies Digimon climbed onto Cody's bed and Armadillomon was already snoozing and Hawkmon was getting ready to join him. He notices that Kouji was also watching the pair.

"So, just what did you mean that they don't need Digimon as partners? I mean, how would you survive in the Digital World, let alone save it, if you don't have any partners?" Yolei asks, looking pointly at Kouji. Kouji looks at him and he says, "It's safe, they are Digidestine as well."

Kouji nods and takes out his D-tector. Kouji focuses and suddenly a circle of data appears on his left hand. "Spirit Evolution!" He says as he uses his D-tector to scan the circle of data. Kouji gets covered in an egg of light and then it disappears. "Lobomon! Warrior of Light!" Kouji says as he is revealed in this human spirit. Yolei just stares, Armadillomon, and Hawkmon too just stare; they woke up on when the egg of light covered Kouji.

Kouji as Lobomon just stands there, Yolei just has her mouth open, and he was just amused by the whole thing. He knew that he should have warned Yolei about it, but something just stopped him. As three minutes pass, Kouji asks, "Came I turn back now?" Takato nods, "Thanks for the demonstration, Kouji."

Soon Kouji again is covered in an egg of light and then he stands there as himself. Other then Kouji and himself, the other three in the room seem to be having a really hard time coming to terms with what just happened. He wonders just how the other Digidestine would think when they see either Kouji or Kouichi Spirit Evolve. He also wonders if he should tell her about Kouji having a beast spirit evolution or that fusion evolution, again a part of him didn't want Yolei to get over loaded with too many idea's at once. So, that'll be talked about later, when the other Digidestine get a handle on the idea of humans becoming Digimon to save a Digital World. _'I wonder how they'll take the fact that Kouji is also one chosen of the Light? And just what will they think about Kouichi when they find out about him being the chosen one of the Darkness? I hope they don't jump to conclusions about him. I mean, I really like Kouichi; he's a great guy. I just hope they see it as well.'_

He comes out of his thoughts to find that Kouji was sitting on a chair and Kouji's pack was on the floor by the bed, just watching Yolei's face. It hasn't changed for a few minutes. He looks over at the two Digimon and finds them to be having the same problem as Yolei. Cody walks into the room with some juice. He looks at his friends face and then over at the two Digimon. Then at Kouji, then finally at him. "What happened?" Cody asks him. "Kouji just showed them the reason he didn't need a partner. I believe it's been about ten minutes since then." He answers and Kouji nods in agreement. He notices that Kouji was clearly enjoying this, for there seemed to be a small smile on his face.

"So, how do we snap them out of it?" He asks Cody. Cody puts down the drinks on the table and turns to look at Yolei. Cody looks thoughtful, and then says, "I don't really know, she should be out of it by now. I guess we wait. I'll go phone Tai. Also I think your brother might be done soon. Just ask him where the washroom is." Kouji nods and with that Cody then heads out of the room. He sighs and turns towards the Digimon. He didn't know if the trick he was thinking about would work, but he did know that it usually works on Guilmon. He has never seen any of the Digidestine ever used it on their partners. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, he walks over to the bed and gets really close. He takes a deep breath and says, "Foods ready!" It works like a charm, both Armadillomon and Hawkmon snap out of it at the idea of food. "Where's the grub? I'm starving!" Armadillomon says, then the Digimon look around for the food only to find Yolei frozen stiff. He walks over to where the drinks are and picks up a glass. He sinks to the floor and just listens to what the two Digimon think happened to Yolei, he knew that Kouji found this to be entertaining as well.

Just as the two Digimon were about to poke Yolei, Kouichi walks into the room. He turns to look over at him. "Hey, I guess it's Kouji's turn?" He asks Kouichi. Kouichi nods his head as he looks at Yolei. "Just what happened?" Kouichi asks. Kouji answers as he gets off the chair, "I just showed them why I don't need a partner." Kouji picks his pack and follows Kouichi out of the room. Now he was alone with one stiff Digidestine, and two Digimon. He wonders about just how Cody was doing. He sighs and turns around to look at his drink.

(V)(V)(V)

He finishes showing his brother where the washroom was and he decides to go head back. He walks through into the room to find the Digimon trying to snap her out of it. He looks to where Takato was, only to find him in the same spot where he left him in. He walks over to the table and sits on the floor. He looks at the glasses with orange juice in them and chooses one. After taking a sip of his glass, he asks Takato, "How long has she been like this?" Takato looks over at Yolei and then at Kouichi. He answers, "I believe about half an hour. The two Digimon were frozen as well, but then I tried a trick that always worked on Guilmon. So, your stuff's getting washed?" He nods his head, "So, now what? We need to get back to the right world." Takato answers, "I think the gate will be ready to take us back tomorrow, but I think the problem might be about the Digidestine. They'll be asking a lot of questions and then they might want to give us stuff to give to Kari, Davis, Ken, T.K., and Izzy. This might take a few days. I hope you guys don't mind." He thought about it and found that Takato's right. If Yolei's reaction and the two Digimon's reaction to just watching Kouji Spirit Evolve into Lobomon is the normal, then they might be dealing with a group of stunned Digidestine. He wonders just what their reactions will be when they find out about their beast spirits? _'I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.'_ He thought and has more orange juice.

He's been in here for about five minutes when Yolei finally snapped out of it. "Here! Where's Kouji?" Yolei asks when she noticed that his brother was no longer in the room. "It's been about forty minutes seen he showed you guys his human spirit. Also, Cody brought in some orange juice." Takato answers. Yolei looks at where the two Digimon lie sleeping. They had grown tired of trying to wake Yolei up and decided to have a nap. "Why didn't you try to snap me out of it! Just great! Now I'm stiff." Yolei says as she walks over to the table and sits down. "Armadillomon and Hawkmon did try, you just didn't respond to their attempts to wake you up." Takato says. He didn't mind letting Takato do most of the talking. He was still getting use to the fact that he was in a different dimension and the fact that Digimon seem to live in this real world along side humans.

Yolei just sighs and picks up a glass of orange juice and takes a sip of it. "So, Kari and the others were happy living at the Tendo's?" Yolei asks Takato. "We turned the Dojo into a guest house. All the guys have been sleeping there. It's free, and Kasumi and Nabiki aren't too bad. It's Akane that they have to watch out for. So, what did they have to say?" Takato says. "You know, mostly about just who's all over there. Rika, Suzie, Henry, and this Ryo kid that Ken knew. There wasn't much that we could talk about. Most of the talking was about how those Digimon wrecked havoc and that you and your partner Bio something into a mega level Digimon to fight this huge tree. Not much of the every day thing. So, what was it like to live in a Dojo?" Yolei asks.

He just sat there listening to their conversation. He had turned to look out the window. He looked at the other buildings and watched the clouds over head move. After a half an hour, Cody and Kouji walked into the room. "Hey guys! I was just asking Takato about Ranma and that world. I can't believe that Ranma had this curse to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water! Then back into a guy when splashed with warm water! I wouldn't mind getting my hands on his Father! Just what kind of Father does those kind of things to his own son!" He had to agree with her on that. He turns to watch as Cody and Kouji walk over to the table and sit down. "The guy's a coward. I didn't spend too much time with him or Mr. Tendo. They just took off one day to go to a bar and I haven't seen them since. They got scared off by Guilmon, I think." Takato says. He could understand why they might be scared of Guilmon. When he first saw Guilmon, in Takato's Dream World, he was kind of nervous. But he soon found Guilmon to be very friendly and kind. Guilmon was dangerous but then again all Digimon were dangerous.

"Tai says he'll be here by 3:00 pm." Cody says. He looks over to the clock and it reads 2:39 pm. "So, what did the others have to say about all of this?" Yolei asks Cody. "I left messages on Matt's, Joe's, and Mimi's answering machines. Sora says that she'll talk to Matt later. I think Tai wants to talk about this here. Also my mom and grandpa will be home at 6:00. I don't know if the tree of you could spend the night here. I'll have to ask." Cody says.

To be continued …


	15. Chapter 15

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 15

They are waiting for Tai to get here. Cody had gone to be another glass for Tai to use. Hawkmon and Armadillomon were still sleeping. He was thinking about the fact that Izzy got to talk to Tai and the others. But Yolei says that they haven't talked to them since. They have tried to get a hold of them, but no luck. He did feel happy to know that the others at the Tendo's are fine and are going to school. He didn't know what to think about the school part. _'I guess it would make cents to go to school. They don't know how long they'll be there, so they might as well go to school. I'm going to be so behind in my studies. I hope I can catch up on it when I get back.'_

They heard the doorbell ring and Cody got up to go get it. He looks at the door and just waits to see one of his favorites cartoon characters. Soon Cody came in with Tai following him. Tai looks over at him and then over at Kouji and Kouichi, then Tai looks at him. "So, your Takato?" Tai asks as he walks over to the table and sits down. "I am. I'm just kind of fused together with my partner of the time being. Also, this is Kouichi and his brother Kouji." He intrudes the two brothers. Kouji nods his greeting and Kouichi says, "It's nice to meet you, Tai." "Nice to meet you as well, Kouichi and Kouji." Tai says to Kouichi and Kouji.

"So, now then, just what's up? How did you get here?" Tai turns to look at him. He thinks for a minute, and then begins. "When I left through the portal with Guilmon and Calamon, we encountered a Digimon. He then decided to do away with us. Guilmon and I Bio Merged into Gallantmon and that Digimon attacked us after we finished Bio Merging. Guilmon and I got the upper hand and we deleted the Digimon. But the force of him charging us pushed us out of the tunnel, Calamon as well. When I woke up, I was like this. I meet Kouji and Kouichi at Avalon's Gate. I also found Calamon there as well. I found out that enemy Digimon from a different reality is invading them. As to how we got here, well, we were at this town named File Connect. There's this building that only I can find and I founded it when Kouichi and Zoe were passing through. So Kouji and Kouichi came with me back to File Connect to explore it. It turns out that there's a lot of gates to that building in different realities." He pauses to think about just how best to continue. "To make this short, we entered at File Connect and we spend time in the building with its care taker, LoreApemon. When we walked out the door, we found ourselves in your Digital World. I think somebody might have wanted to come here. So that's kind of how we got here."

He saw Kouichi blink and looks embarrass. "I guess it's my fault. I wanted to knew more about the Dark Spore, and I thought that this place might have more answers to my questions." Kouichi says. "Why would you want to know more about the Dark Spores?" Cody asks. "You see, my friends and I become elemental Digimon. Kouji's the warrior of Light, Zoe's the Warrior of Wind, and I'm the Warrior of Darkness. I thought that maybe I could figure out how to contain the Dark Spore. Seeing that I'm chosen of the Darkness." Kouichi says. That made Tai, Yolei, and Cody speechless. He looks over at Kouji, and finds that Kouji was tensed up.

Tai recovered a bit faster then Yolei and Cody. "So, what does that mean about you being the chosen of Darkness? No offence but most of our enemies had been evil and seem to enjoy being covering worlds in darkness. So just how can you be chosen of Darkness? You don't look evil." Tai says. "A friend of my once told me that Light and Darkness are brothers. That true darkness isn't evil, it's only evil if you let it be. That's all I can really say." Kouichi says. "An odd thought, but I'm just going to take your word on it. So, how is it that you become elemental Digimon?" Tai asks. "Kouji showed Yolei and the two Digimon already. Could you maybe wait until tomorrow?" Takato asks Tai. Tai looks over at Yolei and she nods. "Ok, so, do you guys have a place to stay? I'll have to ask my parents but I think two of you could stay at my house." Tai says. "Kouichi and I wouldn't mind staying together." Kouji says. "Ok then, the two of you will stay at my place. I'll see if I can't get a hold of Matt or Sora. I think they wouldn't mind having Takato stay with them. Also, just what Digimon are you?" Tai asks him. "It turns out that I'm a Drakemon. Mostly virus type." He says. "I'm just going to assume that part about mostly virus type has something to do about you being human. Ok then, I'll go phone my parents to tell them about Kouji and Kouichi staying with us. I'll be back around 5:30 to pick you guys up. Thanks for the orange juice Cody. Bye you guys." Tai says and leave to run errors. Cody follows him out of the room.

Yolei then turns on the computer, Kouichi move over to watch the screen. Kouji get ups, "I'm going to the dojo to practice." They just nod and he looks over around and then asks Yolei, "Do you know where any card decks are?" "Try the dresser." Yolei says. He looks through the only dresser and soon finds a deck of cards. He begins a game of Solitaire.

(V)(V)(V)

He finds Kouji still sleeping, he gets up and checks the clock, it flickers 7:00 am. He heads to the washroom. He notices that Tai's partner, Agumon, was coming out of the washroom. They stand there for a minute, and then he moves to let Agumon get passed him. After he does his business, he finds Tai's mom starting to make breakfast. "Morning Kouichi, could you go wake Tai for me, please?" Tai's mom asks him, he nods and walks over to the room where Tai was using.

He finds Agumon already trying to wake up his partner. "No luck?" He asks Agumon. "He really likes his sleep some days." The Digimon says. He then helps Agumon to shake Tai. "Come on Tai! Your mom wants you up. Also, you said you would take Kouji and me to Matt's before the meeting. It's 7:08!" He says. "Five more minutes!" Tai says sleepily. "Tai! It's time to get up!" Agumon says, really close to Tai's left ear. Tai's eyes snap open and shoot straight up. Agumon and him fall back, giving Tai room to get out of bed.

Tai looks at Agumon then at him, then he sighs and asks, "Is Kouji up yet?" He shrugs, "Soon, if I know my brother. I'll go check. See you at the table." He says as he heads back to the room that he shares with his twin. He enters the room to find Kouji already dressed. They nod at each other, and then Kouji leaves the room so he could change.

Soon he finishes putting on a blue long sleeve shirt, he then puts on his necklace. He sighs, last night he found out that this reality has never heard of Naruto as a graphic novel or as a TV show. He's finished getting dressed, he then collects the discarded PJs that he used and puts them on the bed he used. Having one final look around, he then heads to the table to eat.

He looks around for Tai's dad, but doesn't see him. Guessing that Tai's dad leave for work early. Tai does have school, so he promise to take them over to Matt's before the quick meeting begins. It was going to be about ten minutes for it, too short to show them a spirit evolution, but enough time to plan for a larger meet. Also to Takato, Kouji, and him to decide what to do while this reality's Digidestine go to school. They knew that they wouldn't be spending it in the Digital World.

He sits on the chair and waits for the food to finish. "So, what do you boys plan on doing today?" Tai's mom asks Kouji and him. "Don't know yet. Maybe look around. I think Takato might know his way around the city." Kouji says as he drinks some apple juice. He nods his head. "If we get lost, Drakemon can fly around for a few minutes to find out where we are." He says. "I hope you have fun." Tai's mom says. Soon they begin to eat breakfast.

They had decided that Takato would be pretend to be Kouji's and his partner, and to use Drakemon instead of Takato. It would just make things easier. They had decided it yesterday when Matt and Tai came to pick them up. It was Takato who had told them about this Impmon that he knew that had two partners, so they thought it was for the best if they use that lie. He just hopes that they leave here soon. He really didn't feel comfortable about being here while Takuya and the others might be in need of their help. They hope to leave tomorrow.

Soon they finish their breakfast and they head out. They got in Tai's car. After a few minutes they find themselves where Matt and his dad live. They get out of the car and Tai leads them up some stairs. They find the right door and Tai knocks. A yellow Digimon with a white and blue pelt opens the door. "Hey guys. Matt's getting ready and Takato's on the balcony." The Digimon moves out of the way so that they can walk in. "Thanks Gabumon. I'll go have a word with Matt." Tai says, and Tai heads to where he knew Matt was still getting ready.

"I'm Kouji and this is my brother Kouichi." Kouji says to Gabumon. "It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. I'm Gabumon, Matt's partner Digimon." Gabumon says and they look around for a place to sit. They spy a couch and they walk to it and then sit down. Soon Takato comes out of a door. "Hey you guy. How was your stay at Tai's?" Takato asks them. "It was fine, yours?" He asks Takato. "It was fine, so what do you guys want to do today?" Takato asks and he moves to grab a chair and carries the chair close to them. Takato then sits and looks around for Gabumon. "Don't really know. What is there to do?" Kouji asks. "We could go mall hopping. Maybe see a movie or just go to the parks around here." Takato says as he finds Gabumon coming over with some glasses.

"Here you go did you want water or some juice?" Gabumon asks them. "Just water please." Takato says. "Water will be find, thank you." Kouji says. He nods in agreement with his brother. "Just water please." Gabumon nods and turns around to get a pitcher of water.

Soon Tai and Matt come into the room. "You don't need make up Matt! Late time I checked, you don't have a concert!" Tai says angrily, not noticing that Takato, Kouji, and him were even here. "What I was just checking to see if that color helps brighten my skin tone! Geez, I was just making certain that it would look ok! Don't need to bit my head off!" Matt says, sending Tai a glare. Both 16 years olds forgetting that they about the 13 years olds that were sitting on the couch and chair.

He was looking at Matt's face to see if Tai was right. He didn't really see anything out of place. It was just as Tai was about to say something to Matt that he finally noticed Takato. Then he blinked and looked at Kouji and him. Matt, too, looked at them and he just sighs. "Great! Now you just embarrassed me in front of total strangers!" Matt says to Tai. Tai just scratches the back of his head. "Sorry Matt. I forgot that they were even here. Look the others should be here about now." Tai says and soon they heard a knock at the door.

Matt got up to answer the door. Soon Yolei, Cody, Sora, and Joe walked into the apartment. He just got a feeling that this will be a long day.

Soon they all sat or stood around. "Ok, let me intrude you to Takato," Tai points to Takato, "This is Kouji," Tai points to his brother, "And this is Kouichi," Tai then points to him. "Takato, Kouji, and Kouichi, this it Sora," Tai points to Sora, Sora nods her head in greeting. "And this is Joe." Tai says finally. Joe nods his head. "It's nice to meet you, Sora, Joe." He says.

"Ok, so, what times good for everybody?" Tai asks the group. "I'm free until 6:00." Sora answers. "I'm free after 4:45." Joe says. "Cody and I don't have anything planned." Yolei says. "OK, I'm free until 7:00. Matt?" Tai looks over at Matt. "I have band practice at 7:00." Matt says. "Ok then, so 5:00 it is. So, here's some money to use today." Tai hands Takato twent dollors. "Here's thirty, it's all I have." Sora says as she also gives money to Takato. "Sorry, but I need all the money that I have." Joe says. "It alright, Joe. It's just a loan, I hope you remember me, Takato. Maybe you can find a way to repay me." Tai says. Takato just looks at Tai kind of puzzled but soon the meetings over and they all head out of Matt place and out of the building.

Takato puts the money into his pouch and looks around. "Ok, what just happened?" Takato ask Kouji and him. "I think we just got spending money. I would also say that Tai wants something from you. I wonder what though." He says. Kouji nods and add, "So, I wouldn't mind walking around in a few parks before hitting the malls." They nod and they begin to follow Takato.

To be continued …


	16. Chapter 16

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 16

They had lunch at the third mall that they visited. He had received some looks but not as many as he thought he'd get. They had visited a total of five mall and three parks. He had leaded them to where Yolei and Cody go to school. They waited for about five minutes before meeting up with Yolei and Cody. They head over to Sora's place, that's where Tai E-mailed the meeting was to be held.

They took their time; Yolei had decided to show them her family's grocery store. They had a look around at the different items on the shelf. Yolei picked up snacks for the meeting. He found himself carrying heavy bags that are full of two liters bottles, mostly soft drinks. There are four bags total, with three bottles in each. Except for a bit clumsy with the bags, he didn't feel at all tired about carrying them all the way to Sora's.

They made it in time to help Joe not fall face first on the floor. Kouji and Kouichi had run as fast as they could to catch he before he fell. "Thanks you guys. I was worrying about my next exam." Joe says. Kouji and Kouichi let go of Joe and they let Joe knock on the door. "It's alright, what are you studying to be?" Kouichi asks. "I'm studying to be a doctor." Joe answers and then Matt opens the door.

"Hey, come on in. You brought snacks?" Matt asks. "Yip! And Drakemon's carrying the soft drinks." Yolei says. Matt moved to let them through. They found the other Digidestine and their partner Digimon. After introducing the Digimon to Kouji and Kouichi, they had some of the snacks that they brought. After they had finished, they all headed to the back yard. Luckily the back yard had a tall fence around it.

"Ok, now what?" Matt asks. "I'll show you. I think it's my turn." Kouichi says. "Go ahead, but I think I'll show them the fusion one." Kouji states. Kouichi nods. The other Digidestine just look puzzled.

Kouichi moves a few feet away. Kouichi takes out his D-tector. Then a circle of data appears around Kouichi's left hand. Kouichi uses his D-tector to scan the data. "Spirit Evolution!" Kouichi says, after the scan is finished. An egg shaped ball of energy covers Kouichi. Soon it disappears and the tall black figure says, "Loewemon!" The Digidestine and their partners just stare at Loewemon.

After ten minutes Gomamon says, "Well, talk about a growth spurt." "Gomamon!" Joe says. That brings the other Digidestine out of their stock. "That's amazing! What else can you do?" Cody asks. The other Digidestine also nod in agreement with Cody. "I can slide evolve into my beast spirit." Kouichi says. "Beast spirit? What's that?" Sora asks. "All the Legendary Warriors have a human spirit and a beast spirit. Loewemon is Kouichi's human spirit." Kouji says. He nods in agreement with Kouji. "So, what the differences between the human spirit and the beast spirit?" Tai asks. "Well for one thing, the beast spirit is stronger then the human one." Kouichi says. "I'll show you." Kouichi adds.

"Slide Evolve to … JagerLoewemon!" Kouichi says. Kouichi had again stood in a ball of energy and when it disappears, they now were looking at a black armored lion type Digimon. Again about ten minutes pass before Biyomon says, "This is all so different. But I guess it works where you're from." "It does. It's your turn Kouji." Kouichi says and Kouichi get covered in energy yet again. Then Kouichi and Kouji exchange places.

"Only Takuya and I can do this. It's called fusion evolution. It combines my human and beast spirit together. You'll see what I mean soon enough." Kouji says. Kouji holds his D-tector in his right hand and soon a lot more circles of data appear on his left hand. It looks to be a deformed ball. Kouji scans the data and says, "Fusion Evolution!" The familiar ball of energy again appears. "Beowolfmon!" Kouji says. There stood a tall figure with a large sword with two blades.

After five minutes Tai says, "I'll take a wild guess and say that as Beowolfmon, your stronger then your beast spirit." Kouji just nods. Again he gets covered in a ball of light and when it's gone, Kouji stands there as a human.

So they just stayed silent, each to their own thoughts. "So, you become Digimon to fight to save the Digital World. How did that work out?" Matt asks. They headed back inside, and then Kouji begins to tell them the whole story about their adventures last year.

(V)(V)(V)

He finishes eating his supper. All of his cloths have been cleaned and were already in his pack. Takato has the items that the Digidestine wanted their friends to have. Nothing too big that it wouldn't fit in Takato's pouch. Kouji and him still didn't get the look that Takato got from talking to Tai about something. All Takato would say about the whole thing is that Tai wants some DVDs about this cartoon show. They didn't get why Tai would want this DVDs but Takato seems to know why. He picks up his plate and takes it to the sink. Then he looks around. Tai's parents where out and Tai's mom had left supper ready on the stove. Tai was doing his homework and Kouji was also finishing up his supper.

He heads to the computer in the spare room that Tai's using. He surfs the net. He could hear the TV from the living room, meaning that Kouji decided to watch TV.

A few hours pass and soon it's time for bed. He turns off the computer and heads for the room he's sharing with Kouji. Soon, they finish changing into the PJs that Tai's mom gave them. Soon they fall asleep.

----------------------------------------

Zoe looks up at the night sky. Takuya had stayed at the keep to look help keep an eye on Calamon and Lucemon. She had arrived at File Connect and had found out that Kouji, Kouichi, and Takato still haven't shown up. They went exploring on Wednesday and haven't been back yet. IceLeomon had said that they would be needing supplies, for their supplies should be run out by now.

Zoe hears a sound and turns to find a Wizardmon to her left. "Good evening." Zoe greets the Digimon. "Good evening too you as well. Nice night to be out." Wizardmon says. Zoe nods her head and thinks about something. Then it hit her, "You must be that Wizardmon that gave Kouichi that bracelet." "I am. I felt that it has been used. I find that I missed him. I must be going, I hope you can tell Kouichi that I hope used it well." Wizardmon says and then nods his farewell to Zoe. Zoe waves goodbye to him.

It was still early and Zoe had a great deal of energy. Taking out her D-tector, she uses it to become Zephyrmon. Zoe flies around the town.

----------------------------------------

Takuya looks to where Tommy had fallen asleep. He grins at the sight, it reminds him of his own little brother. Takuya knows that Zoe's fine, they got a message from IceLeomon that said so, but still he wished that she was here with him. Takuya knew that Zoe wanted to know just what Kouji, Kouichi, and Takato had found first hand. Takuya and Zoe didn't have a fight about Zoe leaving, mostly because he knew that it would only lead to a really huge argument. One that he didn't want to have so early in this relationship, or what he thought was a relationship. Takuya didn't know where he stood with Zoe. Was he just a friend or was he something more? He wasn't ready for the answers yet. He trusted his instincts more then his head. Right now his instincts were saying that he did the right thing to let Zoe go to File Connect.

He looks over at Tommy one last time, then began to wake Tommy up. "Come on Tommy. I believe that you should go to bed if you're tired. I don't want you to catch a cold." He says. Tommy nods his head. Takuya helps Tommy get up and leads Tommy to his room.

----------------------------------------

Kari looks up at the sky. She misses Tai and the others. She was relived to have Davis back. Davis came back with another partner, a KageVeemon named Kage. Now they are worrying about Takato, Guilmon, and Calamon. They haven't heard anything from Takato. They also can't get a hold of Tai and the others. Kari looks down to where Rika was sky gazing. Rika and her have become close over the last few weeks. Kari already counted Rika as a really good friend. She knew that Rika was really worried about Takato, but Rika hid it rather well. It was just a feeling that Rika was worried. She also knew that Henry and Ryo also were worried, but the trusted Takato to come out of it all right.

Gatomon jumped onto her shoulders. "Thinking about Takato?" Gatomon asked. "Kind of, mostly about home. I didn't really get a chance to say good-bye. When do you think Cassandra and Izzy will be finished with the stabilizer?" Kari says. "I think Dash said that they should be finished in one more weeks time." Gatomon says. Kari smiles, she asks, "So, are you here about my homework?" "Maybe, or just to get your mind off of the past. Everything will be fine! Just think, in a week, you'll be able to talk to your brother! I bet Tai's having kittens worrying about you." Gatomon says. Kari turns and walks to where her homework awaits to be finished.

----------------------------------------

Guilmon sighs as he watches Takato look at the full moon. He really wants to have something to eat, but he didn't fell hungry. He wishes that Takato didn't have to leave, but Takato promised that he'd find an answer to unfuse them. He wonders if that Kouichi couldn't come back to play with them. It had been fun to have a new friend to play with. He knew that Kouichi had a great deal of fun as well. He hopes that Impmon and Calamon aren't bored without him.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks at the full moon. Kouji, Kouichi, and him were going back to where the Hazard stored the stuff from the realities that it defeated. They were leaving at 6:00 am. So, Kouji and Kouichi had agreed with him about going to bed early.

"Takatomon, could Kouichi come to visit us here?" Guilmon asks. He looks at his partner. "I think he needs another bracelet to do that Guilmon." He says to his partner. "So ask him." Guilmon states. Takato laughs at that answer. "I plan to Guilmon. I wouldn't mind you meeting Kouichi's friends too. Maybe if we ask Seraphimon about where to find more, maybe you'll get to meet them. So, what game do you want to play?" He asks Guilmon.

He waits for Guilmon to answer him. After a few minutes Guilmon answers. "Go Fish?" Guilmon asks. He looks surprised about the choice. He gets up and head to Guilmon's hide out. He looks around the place, and then he finds the decks of cards that he gave Guilmon for his birthday. It turns out that when the teens were at school, the Digimon didn't mind having games of Poker, Black Jack, Go Fish, and Solitaire. So, when Guilmon's birthday had come, he decided on giving his partner three decks of cards. Guilmon was thrilled at the gift. He smiles at the memory. He pulls the box out and opens it. He looks at the collection of cards and turns to Guilmon, and says, "Why don't I teach you a new card game?" Guilmon look happy and nods. "What's the game called?" Guilmon asks. "It's called War." He says and they walk out of the shed. He explains the rules and answers Guilmon's questions. They had all night to teach Guilmon how to play the game right.

To be continued …


	17. Chapter 17

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 17

He finished eating the breakfast that Matt made. It's 5:24 am, and the Digidestine plan on see them off. Most of what they had given him to give to Kari and the other Digidestine were letters. They fit easily into his pouch. He now didn't know how to send the DVDs that Tai had hinted at. Also, he never really told Kouji, Kouichi, and the other Digidestine that where he came from Tai and the other Digidestine's adventures became a cartoon show. He hadn't seen the point in telling them about it, and he didn't know how they'd take it. _'I'll tell them when we meet up with Kari and the others. I better get back to Ranma's world, just to let them know that he's all right. I wonder if Davis has made contact with them? I'll just have to find out later.'_

He finishes the breakfast and takes his plate to the sink. "It's 5:40, ready?" Matt asks. He nods and says, "Thanks for letting me stay here Matt." "It's no biggie. You're a great houseguest; I mean you didn't need any cloths that need to be clean. You also don't eat as much as a normal Digimon about your size would eat." Matt says as he puts his plate by the sink. Gabumon was already in the Digital World. Gabumon had been in the real world for about five days already. He follows Matt to where the computer was. He takes out his D-ark as he walks. Matt gets the gate up and then they hold their Digivices to the screen. "Digi-Port Open!" They say at the same time.

Matt lands on his back, soon they untangle and then they head to where the river are, where most of the Digimon are. They find Joe and Sora already there. "Hey you two!" He says to Joe and Sora. Joe and Sora wave their greeting. "I bet you can't wait to get back to the right Reality, huh?" Gomamon says. "I can't wait to unfused with Guilmon. But for now, yea, it would be nice to get back to see Calamon. I really miss the little guy." He says with a longing. "I'm certain that the little guy can wait to see you too." Matt says to him. He nods his head.

Soon the rest show up, and then leads them to where the building was. He sees it so clearly, but know that the others couldn't. "I guess this is it. Hope you remember to give them the letter we wrote. Also, don't forget about those DVDs, Takato." Tai says. He gulps at that and nods his head quickly; not liking the look Tai's giving him. "Enough with the stupid DVDs Tai! I'm certain that he'll try his hardest to get them. Gees, don't go threatening the poor guy." Matt says to Tai. Tai looks over at Matt, and then says, "Are you the bit curious to know just what they showed? I mean, come on! I want to know just what Takato and millions of other kid from where he comes from has seen. I think it's imperative to know just what this kids have seen." Tai had moved slowly towards Matt.

While Tai was talking to Matt about that, he had taken a leap into the air and was already finished tying the rope to the building. Upon hear that last bit from Tai, he tosses the two ropes down to Kouji and Kouichi. "Bye you guys! Thanks for everything!" Kouichi says as he begins to climb a rope. Soon the twins were on plate form and he was aright rolling up one of the ropes. Kouji was rolling up the other; Kouichi opens the door to the building. He didn't see the point in putting the rope in his pouch, they'll be using it soon enough.

They close the door and then they all think about File Connect, they way the remember it. Then Kouji does the honors of opening the door. They walk through the door and Kouichi closes the door behind them. He sniffs the air and as he ties the ropes, he hears the sounds of a town waking. Soon Kouji and Kouichi are off the plate form and are now on the ground. "This is the right place! Meet you at IceLeomon's!" Kouichi yells. He finishes up with the ropes and then leaps into the air. He flies around, enjoying the experience. He grins as he looks around. It's File Connect alright, and then heads to where IceLeomon's house was.

He meets Kouji and Kouichi at the door. Kouichi knocks on the door, and IceLeomon opens it after a few minutes. "Greetings! I was beginning to worry about you. The rest of your cloths are in the closet. I don't think you need breakfast." IceLeomon says as they walk into his house. "Sorry but our hosts made breakfast for us. Thanks for the offer though. It's great to be back." Kouji says. They walk into the living room and he smell something. "Is Zoe here?" He asks IceLeomon. "She arrived yesterday. It's just her, though." IceLeomon says. He nods his head, understanding what he meant.

IceLeomon heads back to the kitchen to finish making breakfast for Zoe and himself. They just relax. After an hour, Zoe comes into the living room. Zoe smiles as she looks at the three of them. "Hey you guys! Where have you been? IceLeomon said that you must have run out of supplies by now, so what kept you?" Zoe asks. "We'll tell you and IceLeomon after you guys had breakfast, ok?" Kouichi asks. Zoe nods her head and then heads to the next room.

They all thought about where Tai and the other Digidestine live. They didn't see the harm in telling Zoe or IceLeomon about where they have been since Sunday. Soon Zoe and IceLeomon finish their breakfast and come into the living room to listen to their adventure.

Kouichi starts at the beginning, then Takato, and Kouji. They all add to the story and to what they saw in that other reality. Zoe and IceLeomon listen with great interest and wonder at what they had been through.

After they finish about how they got here, silents settles over the group. Then Zoe says, "I can't believe that this door was capable of doing that. I wonder where else it leads." IceLeomon nods his head in agreement. "This is quite interesting, to think that this Hazard is the great enemy that was the reason for Avalon's Gate to be created. And then to be sealed, incase the Hazard returned. But then I guess the Hazard has returned, in a fashion at any rate." IceLeomon says with amusement in his voice. He blushes at the comment, but you couldn't tell because of his black hide.

He knew that IceLeomon was right; Guilmon and the Hazard were the same very being. The only difference was that he shaped the Hazard into Guilmon and what's the Hazard to stay as Guilmon. He didn't want the Hazard to continue its rein of terror. He hopes that with the Hazard being with him and being in the shape of Guilmon, that he doesn't have to worry about the Hazard trying to conquer anything. _'Didn't LoreApemon say that the Hazard and me being together is enough? Does that mean that what I worry about will never happen? I hope that LoreApemon's right. I really don't want the Hazard to do what it did in ages passed. I'll have to ask LoreApemon more about this, next time we meet.'_

IceLeomon gets up, and says, "I'll contact the keep that you guys are safe. Will you be going back in, though?" He looks over at Kouji and Kouichi, they just shrugged. "Not right away, I think we'll head back to the keep to visit our friends and to tell them about our adventure. We might leave to today to do just that." He says, Kouji and Kouichi nod their heads in agreement. "I'll tell them that. Then I think that you'll be back then?" IceLeomon asks. "You bet! We've got more levels to search! More answers to find!" Kouichi says. Zoe nods and says, "I hope the others want to come. Then we could get through that place faster." IceLeomon leaves to go report to the keep about Kouji, Kouichi, and Takato being safe and that they'll be heading back to the keep.

(V)(V)(V)

He sighs as he enters the hot waters of the pool. It's been a busy week, the enemy has renewed their attacks, and they had help to battle them. The enemy has been trying to avoid Takato in one-on-one battles. Not that it helps them, all Takato has to do is to swipe a single card and most of the enemy Digimon just run as far as their legs can carry them. Takato has deleted five ultimate level Digimon with only using a single card. By now, they just up and run before they even see a card in his hand.

He just got back from a battle and had wanted to be clean for supper. The last time he remember them all together on a battlefield was Friday. He knew that Tommy's the only other human here at the keep. He heard that from a Bearmon. He hopes to see his brother tomorrow before going back into battle. Kouji and him have only been talking to each other by the notes they leave in their shared room. He wonders just how Calamon and Lucemon reacts to only seeing a tired Takato. He, too, had been making time to play with the two of them. Everyone has, they needed to be reminded about the good things in live. He knew that Ranamon has been flirting with Takato and knew that Takato was uncomfortable about it. _'I wonder just what this Rika's like, I know from Takato's tales that she's partners with a Renamon, what is a Renamon? I can't wait to meet her and the other Tamers. I wonder what they'd make of us?'_ He thought about these things until a Digimon calls to him, "Suppers almost ready!"

He gets out of the hot pool and heads to where the towels are kept. After getting dry and putting on clean cloths, he heads to where Calamon and Lucemon will be having supper. He was lucky, it's been two days since he had to rest at night. He'd be lucky if he gets a full eight hours sleep. He's only been here for about two hours already. One hour to report to Cherubimon and then fifteen minutes read the note that his brother left. Then he picked his cloths and head to the hot pool.

Now he walks through the door and finds Calamon and Lucemon sitting at the table. He grins at seeing them; they turn to look at him and wave at him. He finds a chair and sits down, he looks around for Tommy. "Is Tommy have supper with us?" He asks them. "No, he got about three hours to nap, then he took a mission. I hope you don't have to leave yet, Kouichi." Calamon says, looking sad at him. "I need to sleep before I get another mission. I know Tommy and the others would be here if they could. Don't worry about a thing. Besides, you have each other, right?" He says to the two of them. Lucemon and Calamon grin and nod. "Your right! We almost forgot about that, but still it's not that fun with just two people. Why isn't there some kind of holiday? I mean, can't a truce be called or something?" Lucemon asks. He smiles sadly at Lucemon, he then says sadly, "You can't always get what you want. A lot of Digimon are fighting to get the enemy to turn tail. If we just let them have their way, then the battle would be even harder. They'd bring their own Digimon here to live where the native Digimon should live. We can't just let them claim any part of this world for their own. They have countless worlds under their control and we'll do everything we can keep them from claiming this world. They don't need this world or to add this world true inhabitants. We can't back down; they don't have a right to decide the fate of this world or the Digimon that live here. We're trying to protect the free will of the Digimon that are native to this world. Remember this you two, always fight for your ideals. Takato and the others are fighting to give the future Digimon a place to call their own, to make their own mistakes and to learn from them. Nothing is ever perfect and if it was, it would be boring, huh?" He says.

He could tell that Calamon didn't really understand everything that he said, but he could tell that Lucemon was trying to understand just what he meant. "So, if everything was perfect, it would be boring? Why?" Lucemon asks. "To have a perfect world, there would be no free thought or new ideas. Everything would end up being the same, for without everyone having their own opinions, no new ways of doing things can be found. You know how you don't like to play the same games day in and the day out? You need variations in what games you wish to play, you know, change the rules or come up with new ones? If the world is to be perfect then everything can only have the same rules and you can't change them. You get it? I don't know if I can really explain it to you guys. All I knew is that everybody's opinions matter and that this enemy that keeps us from see you guys as often as we want, shouldn't be aloud to have free rein of the other areas. Ask Seraphimon or Orphanimon or even Cherubimon about this, they might explain this better then I can." He tells them. Lucemon thinks about it and begins to eat the food that some of the Digimon that work in the kitchens placed on the table.

After fifteen minutes Lucemon asks him, "So, every body's opinion matters, then whose opinion matter more? And if the enemies have as many worlds under their command, then why add ours?" He thinks about it for two minutes and then answers, "Some Digimon are just plain greedy. They always want more then they should. And to answer you first question, the opinion that matters most is different for everyone. My opinion matter more then a strangers, right? And your father's matter more then my, right?" Lucemon nods, and then asks, "Then Calamon's and my opinion matters to you and the others?" He nods his head. "Ask your father to explain it better. For he might have better answers then me. You can even ask any of the others opinions about this, next time." He says to Lucemon. Lucemon look thoughtful about this and then nods, "Thank you, Kouichi. I'll ask Takato, and then if he says to talk to my father about it, then I will. I still don't see why anyone would want that perfect world you described. Is that the only way to get one?" "I believe it is what a perfect world would be like. It would lack individuality and originality. That's all I can really envision." He says and that end the discussion.

As he gets ready for bed, he thinks about the time he and the others battle Lucemon. He remember about how Lucemon talked about a perfect world. He wonders if it was a good idea to talk about it with him. He hopes that Lucemon understands what he was trying to say. And just as he was about to fall asleep, he felt a certainty that Lucemon had gotten some of his meaning. Then he falls into a dreamless sleep.

**To Reader:**

Something new, I double hitter! Hope you enjoy reading chapter 16 and this one.

To be continued …


	18. Chapter 18

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 18

He looks over to where the group of invaders was resting. It was Wednesday and he was here to stop them from building a mine. It was funny; here he was black and quite tall, just crouching about forty feet away, and they haven't spotted him. Lucky for him most of the invaders are terrified at the mere sight of him. He notices a Digimon he hasn't seen before. He just shook he head and with easy he moves over the rocks that lead to the ground. He moves on all fours.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks at the group that he was in command of. He thinks about the message from his cousin Fate. He plans to desert the GL to become the Stalker contact here. He hopes that he'll get a chance to explain himself before one of the Legendary Warriors deletes him. He also hopes to talk to Takato, the partner of the Hazard. He had been elevated here by Vors. He's knowledge of the Hazard was what got him the attention of others then just the Gryphonmon named Vors. He had been here for three days already and he knew his orders from both the GL and the Stalkers.

He doesn't like what he feeling right now. He looks at the tired GranGotsumon. They were champion all, and they were scared and tired. He could understand the scared part, for one of the Legendary Warriors was in control of the very ground they walk on. That one can move through the ground with easily.

They finish resting and are ready to get going. "Sir, do you think that … well do you think that we'll meet up with resistant?" Wax asks. Wax was the lead GranGotsumon. He really couldn't believe that he was being asked this. _'Well, yea, this natives are fighting to keep us from turning this into one of the GL's worlds. Of course we'll get attacked. The question is, will it be by a unit or by one of the Legendary Warriors?'_ "Just keep your guard up, Wax. Be ready for anything." He says to Wax. Wax nods his head, they both look around.

It was a good thing that he has his mask covering his bottom half of his face. He was frowning. He fingers one of his throwing draggers. He's sword rest on his side. He gets up and motions for the others to follow. All forty-seven GranGotsumon get up. They all carried packs, he carries in his cloths and important papers.

They walk about three miles before they get attacked. The GranGotsumon take one look at the attacker before running as fast as their legs could carry them. He doesn't turn tail and run, he takes the offensive. With his sword out and in both hands he charges the black Digimon.

(V)(V)(V)

He finally gets them where he wants them. Now he faces off with the tall Digimon. The Digimon was taller then him and had tan skin. On the Digimon's face there was a mask that covers the lower half of the face, the image of a fanged grin on the mask. Covered in brown leather and grey armor, the Digimon had on the Digimon's right arm was some armor. The left arm had nothing covering it. The leather and grey armor didn't full cover the Digimon, but it made his opponent look like a mercenary. This Digimon's hair was dark green and was in a short ponytail. The Digimon has some throwing draggers over his crest.

The Digimon was charging him with the double edge sword. He dodged swing of the sword and then threw a punch that the other dodged. He leaped out of the way and lands two feet away. He knew this was going to be hard. The Digimon blue eyes stares at him and then the Digimon did something that catches him off guard. The Digimon puts his sword back into its sheath.

"I represent a group of rebels named the Stalkers. My name is Guyver." Guyver says. He just looks shocked at Guyver and then blinks and asks, "Rebels? What do they want with us?" He waits for the answer. "They have already began to strike at the GL on five realities already. They had sent a warning about a dangerous Digimon that was coming. I take it you received the warning?" Guyver asks. "They got it alright. They mistook me for that Digimon. I'm Takato by the way." He says.

(V)(V)(V)

He just looks at the black Digimon in surprised. "Are you supposed to be human?" Now he saw Takato study him. "You meet Davis?" Takato asks. He shook his head. "No, my cousin did. To my knowledge, Davis has made it back to the world that he was staying at. My cousin had talked to the Digimon that helped get Davis back there. They all found themselves in that reality. But how did you become a Digimon?" He says. "Guilmon and I Bio Merged to delete this knight Digimon. We didn't unmerge and this reality fused us together. I'm in control of the body, but I see Guilmon when I sleep. I hope to get the two of us unfused though. So, I guess we'll head to the camp. Come on. And no offence but I've never met a Digimon like you before. What kind are you?" Takato asks. "I'm a SilthNinmon. An Ultimate level, Data type Digimon. And you?" He finally notices the Hazard symbol on Takato's crest and the black belt with black pouch. "According to my D-ark, I'm a Drakemon, rookie level Digimon. Mostly virus type." He nods, then Takato turns and he follows. Surprised at the fact that Takato already trusts him.

(V)(V)(V)

He finishes off his breakfast and looks to see Calamon and Lucemon already talking to each other. There hadn't been any missions yet. Takato had taken one that might have been assigned to him. Not that he was complaining. He plans to use what time he has to play with Calamon and Lucemon. He didn't care at the moment just what they are planning, and knew that later he'd wish he'd listen to what was being said, but he just wanted to rest up. It's been a long time since he has had a day to spend with Calamon and Lucemon.

He gets up and says to the two, "Come on, and lets have a game of tag in the gardens." The two Digimon shout out, "Yea!" And they race each other to the gardens. He just smiles at their antics. He hopes this war is over soon.

They played for four hours straight, and then a Leomon comes. "Kouichi, your presences is requested." Leomon says to him. He nods and waves bye to Calamon and Lucemon. They look sad that he has to leave but they knew that he could leave at anytime.

He walks to where he usually meets one of the three rulers. He knocks on the door and hears Ophanimon say, "Come in." He enters the room and finds Seraphimon and Cerubimon in the room as well. "Thanks for coming, Kouichi. Takato has meet up with one of the Digimon that help send the warning. It would seem that the group named the Stalkers have started to have open rebellions in the enemy territories. Do you want to read it yourself or should we tell you?" Ophanimon asks. "I'll read it, thank you." He takes the report from Seraphimon.

He reads it once and then two more times. "So Takato's friend has been found and has another partner? That's unbelievable. So, now what do we do?" He asks the three mega level Digimon. "We wouldn't mind you going to help bring Guyver here. I think you wouldn't mind to do it. It wouldn't hurt for him to meet a human that is able to become a Legendary Warrior. We trust Takato's judgment about Guyver. We hope to learn more about our enemies. So, you think you can leave in thirty minutes?" Seraphimon asks him. "I'll go tell Calamon and Lucemon the new about Takato coming here tonight. I'll be ready to go." He answers and heads out of the room.

He finds Calamon and Lucemon cloud watching as he comes up to them. "It's good bye, huh?" Calamon asks. "I'll be back tonight with Takato. It seems we got some allies. We're to bring the representative here. So, I'll be seeing you guys tonight, ok?" He tells them. Lucemon and Calamon brighten up at that. "Say hi to Takato for us!" Lucemon says. He nods his head.

He has his lunch on the trailmon.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks around at the camp that Takato lead him to. The report has already been sent and he was getting nervous about the looks he was getting. Takato didn't seem to mind, most of the Digimon after watching him for about ten minutes would just seem to shrug it off and return to what they were doing.

He was coming to terms with the fact that he was with the Hazard's partner and that the partner was not what he was expecting. He finishes off his meat apple. He had to admit that it was good. The meat apples came with different flavors of meat. There better cooked and he could see that it would be a moneymaker where he came from. He also found out that this camp gets move every two days. He approved of that. No point on giving the enemy a sitting target. He bet all of his daggers that none of the GL tracker knew about that. He liked what he saw in the camp. He had watched five units leave and three units return. He also found out that in this reality, Digimon get reborn at a village call the Village of New Beginnings. All the Digimon that the GL deletes come back as Digi-Eggs. He had to like the idea.

He as talked to the commander of the camp and had enjoyed the talk. He had also learned that there's this really powerful Digimon, called Lucemon, which was responsible for what the scout saw. He had mixed feelings about that. He heard that one of the Legendary Warriors was going to be on the trailmon that Takato and him will be using. He did have to wonder about this Avalon's Gate that he heard about.

He watches as Takato walks into the tent. "The trailmon's been spotted. Hope your ready." Takato says. He nods his head and Takato and him head to where the Trailmon will be stopping. He finds a group of Wizard type Digimon. "They'll be using magic to get the trailmon facing the right way." Takato says. "I take it only happens when something important happens." He asks. Takato nods his head.

The trailmon stops and Takato walks over to the compartment car. He walks after Takato and stops when a human opens the door. "Hey Kouichi! Meet Guyver, Guyver meet Kouichi, the Digidestine of Darkness." Takato says. He looks at the human named Kouichi. "I think he wants a demonstration." Kouichi says clearly amused. Takato walks over to where he's standing and Kouichi gets out of the car. Kouichi stands three feet away from the trailmon.

He watches as Kouichi takes out a device and then as a stream of data circles the other hand. Kouichi uses the device to scan the data and shouts out, "Spirit Evolution!" An egg of light covers Kouichi and then when it disappears, "Loewemon!" He looks at the Digimon before him, he was speechless. _'The rumors were true, humans becoming Digimon. This is really new.'_ Then the egg of light appears again and there now stands Kouichi as a human.

"Thank you for showing me. I wouldn't have believed it without having seen it myself. I'm ready to go." He says after two minutes. Takato and Kouichi nod their heads and all three of them get on the turned about trailmon.

--------------------------------------------

She listens to the reason why they couldn't get a hold of Tai and the others that remained at their own reality. They also couldn't get a hold of the Tamer's reality. Cassandra and Izzy were working on creating a portal to send Puck, Dash, and Cassandra back to the GL territories. That's also taking time.

"So, the GL have clamped down on all inter dimensional travel in the territories and communications. So, that means what?" Kage asks. The black Veemon look alike was Davis newest partner. Sky, that's what Veemon decided to be called, asks, "They don't want anybody to know that they don't have complete control over the realities they have conquered?" "That seems to be the best reason. I wonder if maybe it's more then that. You say that the GL have spotted Guilmon on the world that their trying to add to the territories? Maybe they don't want Guilmon, Calamon, and Takato to leave that world. The portal that we're working on is going to take months to finish. I wish that we could speed it up but there isn't anyway to speed it up." Izzy says. BlueMeramon nods and adds, "The Dire is having a tough time keeping track of Takato and the two Digimon with him. The connections between worlds are getting worse; it might be because of what you said. The portals between the Dire's world and this one are still going strong though."

She and the others think about that. "I guess that means that the Anchor has to go." Puck says. That got their attention, she asks, "Anchor? What Anchor?" "It's what links up all the realities that the GL has conquered. It makes it easier for the GL to open portals. Like how you can easily log on to the Internet. It makes travel very easy. It's also makes it cheaper then it used to be. The trade of different resource that is native to one world can be exported out of that reality with easily. The power to open the portal isn't that high. It's gotten too as simple as putting the name of that reality and choosing the city that you want to go to. Then you just push a button. But I guess that the trouble is centered at the Anchor. But you can't just go and destroy it." Cassandra says. "Why not?" Henry asks. "This one time, somebody broke a connection between one of the realities that the Anchor was link to. It wasn't connected, as the GL wanted it to be, so they wanted to disconnect it and then reconnect it. The feedback of energy hit the reality and it was a full-blown disaster. A great many humans and Digimon were killed out right and then in the storms that raged for the next five years took there toll on the world. The reality head it's time spend up and the GL had to go and reconquer it. About eighteen centuries had passed for them, when only a week had passed for the workers. Image what could happen if all the connections were broken like that." Cassandra says. "I didn't know that it had happened? Where did you get that information?" Kage asks. "I got it by hacking into some files that the GL were keeping. It took me a full seven months to hack into the files. I've never told anyone about it. I don't think anybody would believe me if I told them." Cassandra states.

To be continued …


	19. Chapter 19

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 19

He watches two Digimon race up to Takato. The scene confused him for he never expected to see something like it at a fortress. "Hey Calamon! Hey Lucemon! You really know how to made a guy feel wanted!" Takato says to the two children like Digimon. On hears the name Lucemon, looks more closely at the two Digimon. One was a small white one with purple markings. The other was child size and looks to be an angel type Digimon.

"The angel's Lucemon?" He asks Kouichi. Kouichi looks over at where Takato and the two Digimon were and nods, adding, "He got reborn. He's not what he used to be; he's been given a second chance. Calamon has become his best friend. Just watch out, they like to play by their own rules." Kouichi says with a smile on his face. Watching the scene for a few more minutes, he turns to find two other angel types waiting. Kouichi leads him to the two.

"Hi Orphanimon, Seraphimon. This is Guyver, Guyver meet two of the three rulers of this world." Kouichi introduces him and the two mega level. "It's good to meet an ally. I hope your stay will be comfortable." Orphanimon says, for Seraphimon seems to be watching Takato and the two Digimon. "My thanks for trusting my word. I hope we can work together to end this war on your world." He says to Orphanimon.

"Hey dad! Can Calamon and Takato fly to the keep? Takato says he'll make Guilmon Bread!" Lucemon yells to Seraphimon. He was surprised at that for Kouichi says that Lucemon was reborn. Kouichi whispers to him, "Seraphimon been raising Lucemon like a son." He nods. "As long as it doesn't turn into a game." Seraphimon says to Lucemon. "Ok! Come on!" Lucemon says as he rises into the air. He watches as Calamon's ears grow and Calamon joins Lucemon in the air. Takato opens his wings to their full length. Takato leaps into the air and they then fly toward the keep. He was impressed.

"You must be hungry, it's close to supper. I believe that Calamon and Lucemon will be have Guilmon Bread for supper, I don't see why you don't have supper with Orphanimon, Cherubimon, and myself." Seraphimon says. "Thank you, and I believe we have much to talk about." He says. "I'll go and help Takato with Calamon and Lucemon. I hope I don't start a food fight." Kouichi says as he heads up the stairs.

He follows Orphanimon and Seraphimon to the keep. _'This place is not what I expected. I wonder if I'll ever find someone to spend the rest of my life with. And will I be as good a parent as my own? This place is beyond what I expected. I wonder just what else awaits me here.'_ He thinks as he walks behind the two mega level angels.

(V)(V)(V)

He watches as Calamon and Lucemon finishes off the last of the Guilmon Bread. He had two of them himself and found them to be good. Takato was eating a meat apple that he cooked. "They really like the stuff. Wouldn't ever have believed that Digimon could love bread so much. I notice that some of the others stole a few loaves themselves." He says to Takato. Takato just grins at that. "I have no clue as well. It must be something I learned from my parents. It's a good thing that we always make more then enough. I also don't mind. I'm thinking of making some cream puff tomorrow, hopefully before I leave on a mission." Takato says to him. He thinks about it and then asks, "Do you think that Guyver's trust worthy?" Takato thinks and answers, "Yea, I believe him. He's cousin meet up with Davis. I think that he wouldn't be here if I didn't think that I couldn't trust him. He's the honorable type. I wonder if Ranamon will start on him and leave me alone." He looks at Takato and knew that what Takato said makes sense. Guyver does seem the type that Ranamon will enjoy flirting with. "You think you should warn him?" He asks Takato. "Don't know." Takato says simply.

Calamon and Lucemon yawn at the same time. Takato and him walk to where they were sitting. Calamon was on the table and Lucemon was on a chair. "Ready for bed?" Takato asks. Both Digimon nods and Takato takes Lucemon by the hand and he picks up Calamon. He follows Takato to where Lucemon's room is. Calamon had been sleeping in the same room.

As they leave the room, Lucemon calls to Takato, "I want to ask you something, Kouichi could I talk to Takato alone?" He nods and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. He head to the hot pools.

(V)(V)(V)

He noticed that Calamon was already asleep. "What did you want to talk about?" He asks Lucemon. "Are other's opinions important?" Lucemon asks. He just blinks and doesn't answer for a few minutes. "It depends, why do you want to know?" He asks. "I asked Kouichi why we couldn't fight for a single day. He says that we can't leave the invaders have their way with our world. But what can a single day do?" Lucemon states. "Lots of things can hinge on a single hour or a day. You know that tall Digimon that came with Kouichi and I? He's going to help us in this war. With the information he knows, this war can soon be over sooner. If I hadn't been there to meet him today, who knows what could have happened later when we meet. Is there anything else?" He says to the rookie. "Yea, how come your opinion matters more then Kouichi?" Lucemon asks. He was really thrown for a loop. "Huh?" He says without thinking. "Well you see, I really want to know why what you say as more important value to it then Kouichi says." Lucemon clarifies. He just stood there, thinking.

He finally gets what Lucemon was talking about. _'Remember to get Kouichi back, must get Kouichi back for this.'_ He sighs and looks Lucemon in the eye. "My opinion has more value then Kouichi's because you decided that it matters more. I for example have this friend name Rika, and her opinion matters to me on a different level then Kouichi's or your's. There are different opinions, like Rika's idea's of what kind of friend I am to her really matters to me. I hope to be a different kind of friend to Rika then to you or Kouichi. You like my, right?" He asks Lucemon, the rookie nods his head. "Do you like me more then, say, Calamon?" He asks Lucemon, Lucemon thinks about it and the says, "I think I like Calamon as my best friend, your like some thing else, just as important but different. Is that what you mean about different levels of importance?" He nods he's head. "I like you as a little cousin or another relative. I think of Guilmon part of my heart and soul. I see Calamon as a kid that sometimes needs to be looked after. And I think of all of the chosen children here as my friends. I might not know J.P. or Kouji as well as I know Kouichi, Takuya, Tommy, and Zoe, but I think of them as my friends. You see, about two weeks ago, I put more value on what Kouichi thought then his bother. We ended up somewhere completely different, but no harm was done. I don't think you've talked to your dad about any of this?" He asks Lucemon. "No, I don't what to bug him about something like this. Am I really like a relative to you?" Lucemon asks, a hopeful look on his face. He smiles and rubs Lucemon's hair. "Yip, and I don't think your dad wouldn't mind you bugging him. I think he might enjoy talking to you. Just don't walk in to an important meeting, try when he's having lunch or supper. I think he wants to talk to you about anything and everything. I'm honored that you trust me and I hope you know that you can come to me about some things." He says and takes his hand off Lucemon's head. Lucemon beams at him and nods his head, adding, "I'll do just that, cousin."

He walks way when Lucemon falls asleep. He then heads to his room. _'I'll think of a way to get back at Kouichi later. I haven't had a full night's rest in the last few days. I wonder if Guilmon what's to play in the fountain.'_ As soon has he hit the bed, he curls up into a ball and falls asleep.

--------------------------------------

Tommy looks at the marching group of freedom fighters. Tommy looks up into the sky; the star and the three moons look pretty. He turns to look at the trailmon that's waiting. The group of thirty Digimon was heading back into the sealed area. He was watching this from a really tall tree. Tommy hopes to see Takuya or J.P. back at the keep. He'll be getting a good night's sleep on the way to the keep.

He takes on look around and the jumps down. He lands easily and soon he's human again. He joins the group of Digimon heading to the trailmon.

--------------------------------------

He looks at the camp, from the information that Guyver told them, they now plan to attack the stone gateway that they saw open when they deleted the Ebemon. It's Sunday and they now plan a full out assault. They have been planning this since Friday, and he hope it'll do enough damage to the enemies moral. Calamon had decided to come with, to hope out with Digivolving.

Lucemon was spending the full day with Seraphimon. He was happy that Lucemon and Seraphimon are spending time together. He had also made a large amount of Guilmon Bread, and he had Kouichi help him. Kouichi had agreed readily enough, hoping to make it up to him about having put those thoughts into Lucemon's head. He also had help from Tommy, who seems to have a knack for cooking.

He grins at the thoughts and just sighs. He looks over at J.P. that's with him. J.P. looks over his way and their eyes meet. He then looks once more at the camp. _'I can't believe that they're this stupid. You'd think that with the last attack that they'd add towers or at least walls around the camp, but I guess Guyver was right. They really don't think things through any more. The only new things are the fact that there are buildings now and not just tents and the like. I hope Takuya and Zoe will look out for Calamon.'_

He thinks and then looks at the sun. It's getting close to the right time. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He relaxes his body; his wing muscles also open up a little. The wings were still touching his back though. He opens his eye and he watches the enemy Digimon move around their camp.

(V)(V)(V)

He was with Kouji and Tommy, just waiting. With them were twelve Sealsdramon, twenty Honeybeemon, and their leader Kyuukimon. He hopes never to be on the receiving end of Kyuukimon's blades. He knew that J.P. and Takato didn't have anybody with them. The whole point was that none of the enemy Digimon ever wants to fights Takato. So, it's up to Takato and J.P. to get to the stone gate and destroy it. That'll make it hard for the enemy Digimon from getting reinforcements and sending reports back to the GL. That meant that they'd have to reconnect to the GL's home reality. Giving them time to come up with better plans and to keep the moral of the units here low.

They see the signal to begin. They begin to move forward.

(V)(V)(V)

He sees the signal to begin. He waits for J.P. to spirit evolve into Beetlemon. Then they move toward the camp. He knew that the other Digidestine had been waiting in their human spirit forms. J.P. had wanted to wait for the last minute before changing. They didn't want to attract the attention of the enemy to where they had been hiding.

After they cleared the forest, they took to the sky. They spy others alrighty in the sky. Soon the enemy sees that they're under attack and try to get organized to repel their attacks. He looks at where the stone gate was. He heads straight to it, dodging attacks as he does. He knew that J.P. was also heading that way; J.P. just wasn't flying with him.

He makes it the gate without much trouble. He circles it and spies that some Digimon was attacking J.P. He sighs and lands, he's about to attack when he gets tackled. He turns to face four Boarmon. He looks the lead Digimon in the eye and then he charges.

He tries to punch with his right arm and the Boarmon that he was attacking dodged and then he had to leap out of the way. For two of the Boarmon had tried their Slamming Attack on him. He was out numbered. But he didn't care, he was going to do what Seraphimon, Orphanimon, and Cherubimon had asked him to do. And he planned on doing it, even if he had to delete the whole camp.

He uses his Black Fire attack when two of the Boarmon had chosen to charge him. They didn't stand a chance. They disappear and their data fades. Now the last two Boarmon paused. He could see that they didn't like the odds now. He charges the Boarmon on the right. The Boarmon dodges but he spins around and uses Black Fire on the Boarmon that he charged.

The last Boarmon begins to back away, then turns and flees. He lets the Digimon go. He looks up to see J.P. coming towards him. "Good work! I almost thought that you'd need help." J.P. says, he grins at J.P. "You too. You got held up there for a while. Ready?" He says to J.P. "Anytime." J.P. says.

They turn to the stone gate, and then attack it. J.P. uses Thunder Fist and after J.P. moves out of the way, he takes out his D-ark and power card. He swipes the card through his D-ark and says, "Digimodify: Power activate!" He feels his power double and after he puts his D-ark and card away, he uses, "Black Fire Storm!" The huge funnel of black fire in gulfs the stone gate. When the attack finishes up, they find the stone gate and the ground surrounding it damaged. Then J.P. uses his Thunder Fist one last time and the stone gate gets deleted, not simply destroyed, but deleted. The ground looks like it's now made of glass.

J.P. looks at him and he just scratches the back of his head. "I over did it?" Heasks J.P. "Ok, remind me to never get you made you angry. But you could get work in making glass." J.P. jokes. "You think? Never though about it. Your right, I do seem to have a knack of making glass, weather I want to or not. Should we be going?" He asks. They turn to look at the battle, only to find that everybody had been staring at where the stone gate had been. Then the enemy Digimon abandons their own camp, yet again.

To be continued …


	20. Chapter 20

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 20

He watches Kyuukimon's unit and WereGarurumon's unit begin to make themselves at home. The enemy's base now is under their control. They got orders from Cerubimon to hold the base and they plan to do just that. Takato and J.P. were staying to help out. They knew that if Takato were here, then the chances of the enemy Digimon trying to recapture the base would be minimal. He takes one look around and then with Calamon on his head, he head to where he saw his brother go.

Calamon had helped four Digimon to Digivolve. He also didn't understand why Calamon was with him and not with Takato. "Hey, Calamon, why aren't you with Takato?" He asks the in-training Digimon. He pauses for the answers. "I already did! He also told me to find someone to visit with and to stay by their side until I get on the trailmon. So I saw you and decided that you'd be more fun! Zoe and Takuya didn't look like they want anybody else with them. Tommy was helping with the repairs!" Calamon says to him. He thinks about it and understood Takato's logic about having Calamon stay close to someone. If Takato thought that Calamon might wonder off then Calamon might as well lie on his head. He then continues to walk. "So, you seem to get along well with Lucemon. Can't wait to get back to him?" He asks Calamon. "Lucemon's great! We play lots of games, but it's not as much fun without more people to play those games with. I wish Guilmon was here, he always likes to play games." Calamon says wistfully. "I meet Guilmon a while back. Big, red with black markings? He misses you too, you know. He spends a lot of time just by himself." He tells Calamon. "I feel really bad. Guilmon's lonely and there's nothing that I can do! How long do you think it'll be until Takato and Guilmon split up?" Calamon asks.

They come upon Kouji practicing his sword skills. Calamon and him just watch as Kouji repeats the same move over and over. They both notice that Kouji wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Calamon moves to his shoulder and whispers, after five minutes of watching Kouji, "Do you think it would funny if we surprise him?" He thinks for a minute then whispers to Calamon, "It don't think we should startle him. Lets just wait and play look out, ok?" Calamon nods and flies to a tree and looks around.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks around, hoping that Calamon had taken his advice about wondering. He was with Kyuukimon looking though the papers. The Digidestine's friend, a Datamon, was hacking into the computers. He was the one that was moving the pages of paper for Kyuukimon didn't have any hands to use, just blades.

There were others looking though the books and papers as well, but he was the one helping Kyuukimon. All of the papers and books are going back with the other units. So, Kyuukimon wanted to have some of his unit have a look through them before they get packed up. The computers can't be moved, so Datamon was copying the files from the computer.

"Are we done with this pile?" He asks Kyuukimon. "Yes, there's no reason to continue. I'll report to WereGarurumon what little we've found. Thank you for your help, Takato." Kyuukimon says to him. "Your welcome, Kyuukimon. I'll go check on how J.P. is doing." He says and leaves the room. He finds his way through the building until he finds the kitchen. J.P. was supposed to be here, taking inventory of food supplies. He walks into the room, only to find a Shadramon in the room. "Did J.P. and the others go foraging?" He asks the Digimon. "Yip, they had a look around the building and decided that they need meat apples. Most of this other stuff is different but it'll last for quite sometime now that it's only feeding hundred and forty-six Digimon. The enemy Digimon numbers were six thousand, six hundred, and fifty-two. I heard that a hundred and eight-nine enemy Digimon had been deleted before they abandon their base. We lost seventy-three Digimon." Shadramon tells him. "You heard this from who?" He asks Shadramon. "I heard it when Commander WereGarurumon stopped by to talk to J.P." The Digimon answers. "Thank you for that information. I'll go see what they plan on doing with the leftover tents. Tell J.P. that I dropped in." He tells the Digimon and Shadramon nods his head.

He heads outside, and meets up with Tommy. "Hey Tommy. How are the repairs going?" He asks the youngest Digidestine. "It's going fine! We'll be leaving in about three hours. You finished with the books and papers?" Tommy asks and he nods. "So, what's happening with the extra tents?" He asks. "I think they plan on using them for tempary walls. You'd have to ask around. See you later Takato!" Tommy says before continuing on his way. He watches Tommy disappear, and then he heads off.

(V)(V)(V)

It was Friday when the enemy Digimon surrenders to the camp's Commander WereGarurumon. They looked hungry and dejected, their highest-ranking officers had fought for control over the remaining units and there had been no winners. Without anyone in charge, they voted Mane, a LoaderLeomon to be in charge. Mane had been in charge of communications. It seemed that Mane was popular among the ranks as an easy going Digimon. It also seemed that the old commanders had also began to delete Digimon to try to keep order. It was the biggest defeat the GL has ever had. Mane also got advice from Guyver that shocked the remaining GL army a great deal for they thought that Takato had deleted Guyver.

Guyver had a very long talk with Mane and Mane had to agree that the GL would rather delete the survivors then to admit that they had been defeated on a battlefront. So, once the portal was up and running, Guyver and the remainder of the army would be heading to home reality of the Stalkers.

He was just glad that the war was over. Now Kouichi, Kouji, Zoe, Guyver, and him were on their way to File Connect. They had found out that Guyver was fascinated with the Hazard and since he didn't have all the answers to the questions that Guyver had been asking, he thought that Guyver should come with him and the others. It's Monday and they now made it with time to spare. They dropped off to visit IceLeomon and then he took them to where the building was. He found it without too much trouble and he landed on the building and finished tying the two ropes up and then tossed them down to the people waiting at the bottom.

(V)(V)(V)

He finishes climbing up the rope and he helps roll up the rope. He takes a look around and grins under his mask. He couldn't believe that the Hazard had kept things from the defeated realities that it searched. He believed that Takato was right, and that favorite tablet was telling the truth.

He hands the rope to Takato and Takato puts in it into his dimensional pouch. Kouji opens the door and they walk in. Takato takes out two torches and hands one to Kouji and the other to him. Then they begin to head down the stairs.

After traveling to the level that they had encountered LoreApemon, Takato took out two more torches and hands them to Zoe and Kouichi. "I'm going down the next set of stairs. Feel free to look at what you want. See you guys later." Takato says after handing out the torches, after they nod, he head to the stairs and they, too, head down different hallways.

---------------------------------

It took a lot of effort for them to get in touch with Tai and the others. Now she looks at her older brother on the computer screen. It might be the last time that they talk to the other Digidestine.

"Hey Tai! How are you?" She says to her brother. "Good, you?" Tai asks. "Good, so what been happening?" She asks, waiting for the others to show up. She hears Matt and the others in the background. "I met Takato briefly. Nice kid, his friends spend two nights at our place. We gave him some stuff to give to you. Didn't he make it back?" Tai says. She just stared blankly at Tai. _'Takato visited Tai and them? And he brought friends? How did he do that when we can't even get in touch with them? This is confusing.'_ She finally asks, "Was he ok? I mean, where he is?" Tai looks surprised at the question. "Last I heard the reality he's in is at war with some invading Digimon. He's two friends were also Digidestine. I think their names were Kouichi and Kouji. Nice guys, though Kouji reminded me of Matt." Tai says. She knew that Tai's hiding something. She just knew it for she knew her brother too well.

Just when she's about to ask him for more T.K., Ken, Davis, and Izzy come into the room. "Hey Tai! Long time no see!" Davis greets her brother. "Hey Davis! Hey Izzy, T.K. Nice to see you're doing well Ken. Nice to see you again, Izzy. So, Davis is found and Takato's the one now missing?" Tai says before Matt and Sora push Tai out of the way. "Hey little bro. Mom's worried, but Takato's go a letter from her. Also next time you see Takato, tell him that thanks for the sketch of Gabumon." Matt says to T.K. That got the rooms attention. "You've met Takato? He sketched Gabumon?" Ken says. "Yip, I'm still getting use to the twins though. So, enough about Takato, what's been happening on your end?" Sora says.

Soon they tell the others about the wedding they had for Cassandra and Dash. Soon after they began to tell them about their marks from school the connection acted up and Yolei and Izzy's attempts to keep the connection open. It disconnects, leaving them in front of a blank computer screen.

After a few minutes, they look at each other and then look to where Terriermon and Gatomon enter. The two Digimon look at them and then Terriermon says, "What? Never seen a Digimon enter a room before?" "Takato visited Tai and the others." Davis tells the two Digimon. Terriermon and Gatomon just stare at them blankly. "You're kidding, right?" Gatomon asks. "Nope, it's true. It also seem that Takato has meet up with some more Digidestine too. Twins named Kouji and Kouichi." She says to everyone.

(V)(V)(V)

Takato finds LoreApemon on the twenty-eighth level of this dimension. "Hey LoreApemon! I'm back and I brought some more friends." He says to her. She looks up from the computer screen and says, "I'll be glad to meet them. I take it that Kouji and Kouichi are also back?" He nods and walks over to see the computer screen. He sees images of two great dragons Digimon. He knew that one was Megidramon, the other he never seen before.

He looks at the name by Megidramon's and it reads ShadXailindramon. This dragon Digimon was purple with yellow markings. This Digimon had six limbs and four wings. With four eyes, one eye was red, the second eye was blue, then had another green, and finally the last eye was yellow. The Digimon had a long serpent like body. The four wings look tattered for they look had feathers and it looked like most of the feathers had fallen out. On this Digimon's massive head, were three pairs of antler horns that had seven yellow lines by the base of the horns. This Digimon was huge compared to Megidramon. The snout of ShadXailindramon was broad with four long fangs coming down from the top of the mouth. On the tail of ShadXailindramon were three blades that looked like they were about to spear Megidramon from behind. The forward pair of limbs that belonged to ShadXailindramon had three clawed fingers and a clawed thumb on both hands. The two other limbs had four long claws that were spread out to help give this Digimon a good grip on the floor. The yellow markings reminded him of tribal designs that were becoming popular in his home reality. All in all, ShadXailindramon looked to be a deadly enemy.

"Amazing! What kind of Digimon was ShadXailindramon?" He asks LoreApemon. "He was a virus mega. According to this records, he was formed when two mega level Digimon DNA digivolved together. Impressive, huh? The fight lasted for three straight weeks before Megidramon got the upper hand. Megidramon out lasted ShadXailindramon; it was a fight of stamina at the end. So, should we go so you can intrude me to you other friends?" LoreApemon asks him. He takes one last look at the computer screen before nodding. "Yea, I hope I'm not intruding, though." He says. LoreApemon smiles at that, and says, "You're not intruding on anything. I've been through this whole collection twice. It's no problem. And I hope you can stay longer this time. After having you and your friends here, it feels rather lonely to be here by myself." He looks embarrassed, "We have two weeks. We might leave to get breathes of fresh air, to shower, and to get supplies. So, just what do you eat?" He looks at her as the exit the room with the computer. "There's a level call Mithril, it's shows up when I need to eat. It's the only level that can appear only when you want it to. So when I'm hungry, I just think about Mithril and then I either go up some stairs or down some stairs and I find myself on that level." She tells him. He look surprised, "I'll have to remember that, thanks."

---------------------------------

He looks around; he knew that he was sleeping. He's never told anyone about his dreams, not even Calamon. He did wish to tell somebody though. In this dreams, he's done really bad things. He has seen himself attack Takuya and the others. He even has seen himself control uncle Cherubimon. He feels so helpless to help Takuya and the others. He doesn't hear what he says or what anybody here says. He just watches and he really didn't want to be here. There were times that Takuya and the others attacked those that this dream Lucemon uses. He has seen Takuya and the others purify them. He wonders if this were based on memories, for they remind him of stories that his dad told him when he was younger.

Calamon looks at his friend, he knew that at night something haunts him when he sleeps. Calamon's getting worried, it's been about two weeks and Takato's going to be back soon. "Hurry up Takato! I think we need your help. I wish I could help you more, Lucemon, but you got to hold on! Don't let the bad things take over! I don't want to go through what I did with Jeri! Hurry up Takato!" Calamon says.

He wakes up, looking around, he shakes his head. He's had something like that before. It was how he first seen Rika and Renamon. Now he felt that Calamon and Lucemon needed him. He can't wait to get back to them. He has an odd feeling that it's going take a lot before Lucemon's well.

To be continued …


	21. Chapter 21

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 21

He goes over what's been happening over the last two weeks. They were on their way back to Avalon's Gate. His thoughts go back to when he intruded LoreApemon to Guyver and Zoe…

'+'

He leads LoreApemon up the stairs, his thoughts going back to that mega level dragon Digimon that he just saw on the computer screen. He knew that there were different Digimon out there, but he didn't really thought about it real hard until seeing that image. It made a few things more real. The fact that the Hazard had deleted whole races of Digimon, just to find him. He really didn't know just what to feel or if he should feel anything.

After going up two sets of stairs, he finally asks LoreApemon something. "It's my fault that the Hazard did what it did, right?" He says flatly. "No, the Hazard did what it did on its own. At one time, it didn't search so violently. Things changed when it was tricked into creating something. You might say that it had its trust taken and tore into pieces. I don't know if what it created still exists but after that it began to splinter. It was betrayed when it was eighty-four years of age. The betray left it's mark on the Hazard. Now it has a second chance at things by your side. I believe that you will keep the bond between you active. Just what do you see Guilmon as?" LoreApemon asks. He thinks it over for five minutes then says quietly, "I see him as part of my heart and soul. Not an extra arm or leg, but like a twin. When we were separated after the D-Reaper, I felt like I was only half alive. I feel very alive right now, knowing that Guilmon waits for me at night. I really want to be by Guilmon's side as long as he wants me by his side. I guess that's weird, huh?" "Not at all, this might be what the Hazard felt when it was searching, only half alive. It seems that the two of you might exist solely for each other. Take heart in that, Takato." LoreApemon says to him. He smiles on hearing that, he felt more comfortable after that.

They finally make it to the right level and he looks around. "So, which way did Guyver and Zoe go?" He asks LoreApemon, she looks around and then points down a hallway to their right and then to one far left. "They went that way, a Digimon down the far left and a human to our right." LoreApemon says. "Let's go right, and thanks." He says and then leads LoreApemon to where Zoe is, he had gotten used to LoreApemon knowing where to find people. He figures that it has to do with LoreApemon being the caretaker of the place.

They made it to a fork and he then heads the way LoreApemon pointed. They soon find Zoe on the floor and have two scrolls opens. Her pack was by the door. "Hey Zoe, I'd like to introduce LoreApemon. LoreApemon I'd like you to meet Zoe Orimoto." He says. Zoe and LoreApemon nod their greeting to each other. "Nice to meet you, I guess I'll be seeing more of you. Hope you don't mind, but I'm busies reading. Sorry." Zoe says to LoreApemon. LoreApemon nods her head in understanding. "There are lots to read. We'll be seeing more of each other later." LoreApemon says.

Zoe returns to reading the scrolls in front of her. LoreApemon and him head to where Guyver was. He wonders just how the ultimate level Digimon would think of when he meets LoreApemon. They make it to the main hallway, and then recheck the direction of where LoreApemon had pointed.

Soon they find Guyver sitting on floor, very much into the book that's in his hands. Guyver had his facemask off and most of his armor. Guyver's weapons lay with his pack, by the door. He blinks at the sight before him, for Guyver looked almost like an elf. He didn't see Guyver's ears, so he didn't know if they were pointed or not.

Recovering from the sight before him, he says, "Sorry to interrupt you, but I thought you might want to meet LoreApemon, the caretaker of this place." Guyver looks up and then looks from him to LoreApemon. "It's a pleasure to meet the caretaker of this place. I'm Guyver, a SilthNinmon. I hope to ask you some questions at a later date. I hope you don't mind, but I'm really glad that Takato included me in his group. I've been fascinated with the Hazard ever since I read an old history text when I was training." Guyver says to LoreApemon. LoreApemon smiles and answers, "Then I hope to exchange information. I only know what the deleted wrote and that's not much, I'm afraid. I always wanted to know just what kind of myths and legends survive throughout the realities that the Hazard left in its wake." He could see that LoreApemon and Guyver hit if off.

He had decided to begin to check out the next floor. He knew where the beds were for it and he didn't have to worry about giving out food, for they all had their own. He found stone tablets and images painted on wood. He begins his search here, and he'll share what he found when he and the others meet up to sleep. He knows where to find LoreApemon and feels comfortable about being here. It was like home and he didn't what to separated from this place, even if it meant that he wouldn't stay in his home reality.

It was after thinking about it did he see that he didn't. _'I could create another doorway! I could connect my reality to this place! Just how do I do that?'_ He begins pushes those thoughts out of his head, making a mental note to talk to LoreApemon about it. Soon he returned to looking through the huge room, for it was the largest room that he's been in on this floor. He had looked around this level before choosing a room to start with. He did notice that these items seem to match up with the last level, only that this were images, not too many books or scrolls.

It had been four days here, and it looked like they were beginning to feel the need for fresh air. He then thought about Mithril and how it sounded to be an open field level. He wonders just what it looked like and just what kind of plants grew there. He suddenly wonders if what the fruit and vegetables would taste like. It was getting boring eating dry fruit and fish.

"So, are we going to take a breather?" Zoe asks the group. LoreApemon was some place else, leaving the group to its own decisions on whether to stay a night out of this place or to coup with the need for fresh air. "Why not, it's not like this place will move anytime soon." Kouji says, and he nods his head in agreement. "We need a break. So, lets get going. I hope to stretch my wings." He says to the group. They all follow him up the flight of stairs. He was thinking more and more of Mithril, he really thought that if only they knew how to get it to appear, then they might not need to leave for food supplies or for breaks.

As he reaches the final step, he sighs as takes the last step onto the hallway floor. Then he looks up and just stares at the sight before him. He moves forward a few more steps and just stops. He heard grasps of shock and surprise from behind him. He moves his glaze from the sky and look around at the rest of this level. _'I think Mithril found us, more maybe just me. So that's what LoreApemon meant about just wanting to come here. I guess I should have known that this was going to happen. Hope the others don't go making snip comments later.'_

He looks over to where crops of trees were, he really hopes that their trees for if they're not, and then they're the oddest look flowers that he ever saw. He saw the berries hanging from the edge of the huge leaves. He looks behind him and find the others already walking off. He sighs and looks again at the sky and with one great leap, he soon was flying through the air.

After flying around for two hours, he finally saw Kouji and Kouichi by a river. He began to head their way. He lands a few feet away from the twins and says, "Hey, how's it going?" "Pretty good, all of this stuff's editable. You tried any of it?" Kouichi says to him. "No, I was just flying around. So, I'll see if I can't find Guyver or Zoe. Stay around here, ok? I'll go round them up." He says to the brothers and they just nod and he again leaps into the air.

A few miles north east of where he found the brothers, he finds Zoe and Guyver already walking around. They looked to be headed to the east, he flies down. "Kouji and Kouichi are southwest. They're by a river, I'll show you, ok?" He asks them. "Lead on, we were looking for you guys. This place is really amazing!" Zoe says. "I agree. I hope we can find our way back here. I didn't know that there was a place like this." Guyver says. "I asked LoreApemon what she ate and she told me about this place. She said that only by really wanting to come here, will it appear. It's a level that can disappear and reappear without any really direction. It's called Mithril. I didn't know if it would show itself, but I guess I really should stop thinking like that around here. It seems anything's possible in this place." He says as he leads them to Kouji and Kouichi.

After regrouping they headed to where the stairs were. He did get to taste the berries and other things that grew on the trees. They head back down the stairs and on reaching the bottom; they find themselves on the level they had left. They soon returned to their readings. They were almost ready to come to his level.

It was two days after they first encounter with Mithril, they got out of the place and head over to IceLeomon's house to relax and to make reports to the keep. Kouji, Kouichi, and Zoe's clothing got washed and were hung out to dry.

The next morning they headed back into the building. They now were twelfth level of the dimension. The eleventh level mostly contained pictures and the like. The twelfth level had artifacts and some books on myths.

They didn't head out of the dimension for food supplies or to refill their water bottles. Guyver and LoreApemon enjoyed each other's company. And it was the day after their second finding of Mithril. The next morning he finally talked to LoreApemon about creating more doorways.

"I understand. Come, I think I have something that should help." LoreApemon says. He had gotten up early to talk to her about it and had even left a note. He follows LoreApemon down many flights of stairs. They made it to where he found LoreApemon the first day. The computer was off, and he followed her into the room. Soon a door that seemed to hide was revealed to him. He looks at it in surprise, for in his time in this place, there has never been a door.

He looks at LoreApemon and she says, "This is as far as I can go. I only know that this part is only for the Hazard to open. Only you can pass through. I believe that your answers lie in there." She then turns and leaves him. He swallows and moves to open the door.

'+'

He snaps out of his thoughts as they near the city. He got uneasy feelings from the city. He wonders if he's too late. He looks over to where Zoe's flying and then down to where Kouichi's giving Guyver a ride. IceLeomon's on Kouji's back. He looks at Avalon's Gate and knew that a trail was about to begin.

He hopes that every body's ok, for now he saw an odd thing, it seemed to be covering the city. He couldn't get a clear image of what the thing was; only that it seems to be a web of some sort. "What is that?" Zoe asks. "I don't know, but I hope that we make it in time. By the Dire, I pray that Calamon and Lucemon are safe." He says, using a curse that he had heard Ranma and BlueMeramon use.

To be continued …


	22. Chapter 22

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 22

He and the others stop. Takato and Zoe land, Zoe becomes human. IceLeomon and Guyver got off Kouji's and his back. They transform back into humans. "What is that? It looks like some kind of web, but it doesn't seem to have a pattern. What could the source be? Did some kind of Digimon do this?" Kouji asks. "I don't think I know what kind of Digimon could make this. Whatever it is, we don't know if it's growing, so be careful you guys. Don't touch it, you don't know what it can do." Takato says. They all listen to him about this, they remember that Takato did save the world from this D-Reaper, and they're hoping that this isn't like the D-Reaper.

Only IceLeomon didn't know about Takato's encounters with something like this, but he trusted Takato's judgment about the web like strains. They had try reporting in this morning, and they couldn't get through. Wizardmon had helped them along by using a teleportation spell. They also knew that it wasn't the survivor of the enemy army, for they were at their old base. So they had no clue about what could behind this.

They all felt uneasy about this. They might be dealing with a new enemy. That thought made him want to groan, for if it's not one thing, it's another. He could see the same expression on Kouji's face. Zoe just looks worried. Takato's face was unreadable, and his tail wasn't moving. They'll be listening to Takato, he knew, and didn't mind, really. He knew that Kouji had come to trust the human turned Digimon. IceLeomon and Guyver will follow Takato's lead for the simple fact that Takato seemed confident about all this.

After a few minutes of being silent has Takato asks, "Zoe, could you fly above the city and see any Digimon? Kouji, could you go around the city to see if any of the strains are coming out of the city? We'll wait here for your return." Zoe and Kouji nod their heads. Zoe becomes Zephrymon, and takes to the air. Kouji becomes KendoGarurumon, and heads off to the left of the wall.

Takato looks around and then says, "Try and relax. I know that you guys want to go rushing into the city. But it's not the right time for that. So, just relax, for you might need all the energy you can get later." Takato finds a log and sits on it. He knew that what Takato says makes a good point and he does try to relax, but he really wants to do something. He sees IceLeomon and Guyver to sit down. He sighs and sits in the shade of a tree. They were a mile away from the gate. They had a clear view of the gate and wall.

They didn't have to worry about others coming to investigate, for Takato had asked Wizardmon to alert the others about what they were doing. He hopes that they'll listen to what Wizardmon tells them. They didn't need more Digimon getting harmed or deleted for no good reason. He knew that Takato had been a leader where he lives, but it was odd that to see him in action. He could see that Takato was really bothered by these turns of events. And yet Takato had keep his head clear and came up with some way to scout out the problem. He knew that Takuya might have tried rushing in and then retreat back. Then they might have tried to come up with a plan of action. He didn't feel that he was betraying Takuya in preferring Takato's way. He knew that Takuya's way had some how, always seemed to work out in the end, but he did have to admit that it was a good idea to gather information about what has happened and to then maybe test things out without having people get harmed.

After waiting for three hours, Kouji and Zoe came back together. They all got up to greet them, hope to hear good news. Kouji and Zoe turned back into humans and it was Kouji that spoke first, "The strains don't seem to expand beyond the wall. I asked Zoe to recheck the areas that I've already check." Zoe nods and adds to the report, "I also can't see any Digimon. Plus these strain seem to go through walls, and at the end of the strains, they connect to the ground. They didn't seem to have any pattern to them. That's all that I can find out without getting any closer." Takato nods his head, "Thanks. Now this might be tricky. We're going to see if we can't get rid of one of the strain. I don't know if it'll attack or what, so be very careful, ok?" They all nod in agreement. They head to the gate and IceLeomon with Guyver helping him opens the gate, they look around and find one of the strains is four feet away from the entrance.

They all look around and then at each other. "I'll give it a go." Guyver says and he walks over. He takes out his sword, and stops about a foot away. Then Guyver says, "Void Cutter!" The swing of Guyver's sword sends a blue energy towards the strain. It cuts it easily and there seems to be ice on what remained. Then Guyver and the others hold their breaths. When no attack came, Guyver moves back. Takato moves forward and then says, "Black Fire!" Takato's attack burned away more of the strain and then something reacted to Takato's attack. Takato dodged the attack and they backed out of the city. There were more strain coming, but they didn't get any of them. After ten minutes, the strains just retreated.

"It's weak to ice attacks, then." Kouji states. "IceLeomon, would you have a go?" Takato asks the ice Digimon. IceLeomon nods his head and moves to where the strain that Guyver and Takato had practice on. "Fist of Ice!" IceLeomon says. The attack works and more of the strain breaks apart. They waited and when not new strains appeared to come and attack them, they relaxed a bit. Then they continued walking into the city. With Guyver and IceLeomon attacking the strains that got in their way. They stayed on guard the whole way.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks around, he was hoping to see Digimon around the city, but there seems to none around. He was hoping that they weren't deleted for if they were, then that means that Takuya and the other Digidestine were gone as well. He hopes that's not the case. He had attack cards of ice and hopes that he doesn't have to use them. They found a building to rest in; they planned on having lunch now. He hopes he's not leading them into a trap.

As Zoe and Guyver begin lunch, IceLeomon checks out more of the building. He noticed that Kouji and Kouichi were just sitting together; he wishes that Guilmon could be here with him. One that thought, his thoughts returned to that door that LoreApemon revealed to him.

'+'

He opens the door, and he walks through it before he could change him mind. He walks in for a few feet and hears the door close behind him. It was Thursday and four more days before they go back to the keep. He continues to walk down the hallway. He stops at the entrance of a huge room. He looks and sees stone statues. They were all different types of Digimon. Closest to him were what he decided were statues of rookies.

He walks up to one that looks to be a horse type Digimon. It was smaller then him and had a tail with a blade on it. The next one was one that looked to be an Agumon but with a single horn on the forehead and markings around the horn. He continues down the line, after about fifty-three rookie statues, he came upon statues of champions.

One that catches his eye was a bear type. This bear was about his height and on the left hand, had a weapon on it with three long claws. This Digimon had a pair of pants. He knew that this one was more based on cunning then strength. He had notice that the rookies too, head to be cunning too. He continues to look at more. There was one that looked to be a Greymon, but instead of just having a helmet, this Greymon had what looked to be tattoos on the fore arms. The helmet had designs on it as well.

"I guess you were MysticGreymon, huh?" He asks the statue. He got no reply, but he didn't need one. He continues looking among the statues, he finds a Garurumon that had a row of five blades on the back. He has seen sixty champions, and had found that most of them were less than eight feet tall. He had also spied an angel type as well.

Soon he came to the ultimates. These were a whole lot larger then the champions and rookies. They all stood over ten feet and were monstrous. He found a statue of Hippogryphomon, but it looked to be the undead type. For he could see part of the backbone very clearly. Looked unhealthy and in a mess. He wouldn't want to meet this Digimon, not one bit.

He saw one that looked to be Mihiramon, the tiger Deva. Like all the other Digimon here, it had it's own twist to it. The wings look to be like a bat wings and had spot and stripe patterns to the Digimon. Where the bandana was to be, there was an iron collar with about two-foot chain. Where the armor plates were, there was nothing. The guards on the feet, they now look to be bulkier then they should. He looks at it for about five minutes, memories of the first time Growlmon had digivolve into his ultimate form came back to him.

He finishes with the ultimates, all hundred of them. What remained for him to look at were the megas, and it seems that they have a room to themselves. He sees the entranceway to the room. He takes one look again around the room and then walks to the entrance to that room.

He walks into it and just stops before he was a foot in. The sights of the twelve megas were overwhelming. Only two were humanoid looking, he notices that one was an angel mega. An odd angel, but an angel nonetheless, for he could see the feathers on the wings. The other humanoid Digimon look to be a kind of huge Leomon. The mane of that Leomon had two braids and the rest of the mane was short. The look on this mega's face reminds him of Leomon, GrapLeomon, and IceLeomon. This Digimon was modeled after the Leomon Digivolution line. He didn't know if that was encouraging or not. This Leomon had a vest and had a gigantic sword on the back. Other then the size and what he saw, the rest of this Leomon was the usual.

He finally looks at the others statues. He saw a great three-tailed scorpion Digimon. Most of the others were beast types, and he did see a statue for Megidramon. He sighs, know that the great dragon Digimon would always be a part of the history of the Hazard. He also comes to the conclusion that with only twelve mega forms, the Hazard didn't see the need for more. He didn't know if that was a good thing of not. He again looks to the Leomon mega. He just couldn't get over the fact that here stood a Digimon that was noble and just. It just didn't seem to fit in with the others, which included the angel mega as well. It just puzzled him that two symbols of good stood here in this chamber.

He then sees a stairway by the Megidramon statue. He heads to it, and walks down it without really thinking about it. He finds a room at the bottom. And here he is greeted with a ghost of a Digimon.

The ghost or maybe echo of a Digimon stood looking at him. A flash of light and the echo now stands in the form of Renamon. He looks puzzled about it.

"Why Renamon?" He asks the echo. "It was a form you feel comfortable with. You don't fear it and you have feelings connected to this form." The ghostly Renamon answers. He pauses and gets what the echo means. "Then why are you here?' He asks. "I'm an echo that was created when you first entered this dimension. You need answers and Guilmon can't give them to you. So, I was created. I'm here to tell you want you want to know and then I'll go back to being a part of the Hazard." The echo states.

He sighs, _'Why aren't I surprised?'_ He thinks about something and then decided to go for it. "I want to know how to create more doorways." He says to the echo in the shape of Renamon. "To create a doorway will take a lot of energy. It might be a while before you recover most of your energy. For now that you can become a Digimon, you'll be able to. You didn't make Guilmon into a magic user, so now you must take up the part. As you are, you have the ability to do magic. You just need to use it. It's like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger you get. Most of these books and items well help you with that. It would be better if you Digivolved into champion form or even better if you become an ultimate. The higher the level, the faster you recover your energy." The ghostly Renamon says to him. "What do I Digivolve into?" He asks the echo. "That's not something I know. You'll have to Digivolve first, to find out what your higher forms are. I also believe that you can also become a different mega as you are." The echo says to him.

That surprised him, for he always thought that he'd become Gallantmon if he ever Digivolved to mega. Now here he was, getting told that he could become a totally different mega. Not only that, but he was also being told that he could become a Digimon. "You mean, even if Guilmon and I split up, that I can become a Digimon?" He asks the ghostly Renamon. "Yes, you can. You'll be given the means after you and your partner split up. Now that I have answered most of your questions, I'll be going. I wish you well Takato. You have some much potential, I hope you realize that." The echo says and fades away.

He looks around at the books and sighs. He finds one for beginners and begins to read it. For the next three days, he reads and practices what he reads. He was able to master four simple spells and two harder ones. He had much to learn and he plans to learn what he can.

'+'

He snaps out of it and looks to see IceLeomon come back from exploring the building. He gets up and head to talk to IceLeomon. He notices that Kouji and Kouichi were napping.

"I got what I can. I have notice that it becomes thicker closer to the keep. We better be careful." IceLeomon tells him. He nods and turns to see that lunch was ready. Zoe was now waking the twins up. He smiles at the sight.

To be continued …


	23. Chapter 23

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 23

He and his brother wake to Zoe standing over them. "You guys, it's lunch time." And she turns and heads to where the food is. He notices that IceLeomon's back and that Takato was by IceLeomon's side. They already have their bowls ready.

He too goes through his pack and takes out his bowl and Kouji as well. They walk over to where the soup is. They all had their spoons out. Soon they all were eating their lunch.

"Any ideas on where the strains originate from?" Zoe asks. Takato looks at IceLeomon and motions for IceLeomon to speak. "From what I can tell, the come from the keep. They get thicker around the keep. It's going to be tough going." IceLeomon says. "So, what happens when we just touch the strains?" Zoe asks. "Didn't try it. I don't think it's a good idea." IceLeomon says. "I think we're safer if we don't touch it. I hope you guys agree with that theory." Takato says, after he finishes his lunch. "I think Takato's right, we shouldn't touch the strains. So, is everybody finished their soup?" Guyver asks. They all nod and they put the pot over to were the dirty dishes were. After washing their bowls and spoons, they repack the items.

Soon they were on their way, with IceLeomon and Guyver in front to cut the strains. They all hope that this wasn't as bad as it looked. They really hoped that it wasn't hard to undo.

(V)(V)(V)

He uses his Void Cutter on a series of strains with one swing of his sword. Then he steps back to let IceLeomon use Fist of Ice. Then they move forward along the path that's been cleared. He remembers the report about what Davis told about Takato's adventures with an entity called D-Reaper. He could understand why Takato doesn't think it a good idea to touch the strains.

They were getting closer to the keep, and they have been encountering what seems to be a jungle of strains. They reach the stairs leading up to the keep. IceLeomon and him combine their attacks and a path was cleared.

"We're getting closer." IceLeomon says, breaking the silents that the group has been walking in. "I wish I knew which room it comes from. I guess we'll have to find the room where all the strains are coming out of. Just remember, try not to touch them." Takato says, reminding them about the danger of touching the strains.

They continue their way up the stairs and IceLeomon and him continue to use their attacks on the strains.

(V)(V)(V)

He sighs and keeps an eye on the direction that they seem to be angling from. He could tell that they seem to becoming from up a level or two. He then thinks of that vision with Calamon in it. He suddenly knew where the problem comes from, and he hopes that Calamon is safe. He runs through the spells that he had mastered. Most of them were just simple, like creating lights to light ones way or to create a sphere of darkness that nobody can see in. They were mostly harmless and therefore the easiest to master.

They stop and Takato then points to the stairs leading up. "I think we should head up. I think that's the direction on where the strain are." He says to them. They look at him surprised, and then he adds, "I've been using the angle of the strains to make a guess that they come from a room higher up." Kouji and Kouichi just look at each other and then Kouji says, "I didn't think about that. But now that I think about it, it makes a good idea." He blushes, though nobody knows that he did, and then IceLeomon and Guyver again lead the way.

Soon they make it to the right level and they soon spy the right room. The attacks of Guyver and IceLeomon continue until they could open the door. They open it and a white blur tries to tackle him. "Takato!" They all look to find that Calamon was the white blur and that the little Digimon was hugging him. "It's alright, Calamon. We're here to help! What's wrong?" He asks his little friend. "Something really bad wants Lucemon! His dreams had been getting worst and he wouldn't tell anyone! I couldn't help him, Takato! It's like that time with Jeri all over again! I'm so scared and sad!" Calamon says. He comforts the in-training Digimon.

Everyone looks stunned about that information. "So, that's Lucemon?" Zoe asks, for she's pointing to the great bundle that's covered with the strains. "I'm guessing yes, so now what?" Kouji says. He takes a look at the bundle and then sighs. "I'm open for suggestions." He tells them. They all ponder ideas and it was Kouichi that says, "Maybe it might be a good I idea to try and touch it? It can't be that bad and it might lead us to the problem." They all think about it and he then says, "I guess that'll work, but I was hoping that it wouldn't be about touching anything. Lets do it."

He holds on to Calamon and they walk into the room, and they all look at each other, then they move their hands to touch the bundle of strains. He was very reluctant to touch it, but he did for Lucemon's sake.

They soon find themselves in a world of light green with dark blue streaks. They haven't seen any Digimon or Lucemon. They all look around and they then floated straight. Calamon was out of his arms and riding on the back of his neck. He didn't mind, just as long as Calamon stays close to him.

Soon they find Lucemon covered in darkness. He didn't know why that was and looks over to Zoe, Kouji, and Kouichi for answers. He sees that the three Digidestine look pale and kind of scared. _'I'm just taking a wild guess here, but I'm guessing that this is a bad thing. Now what?'_ He waits for them to recover and then asks, "Do you know why that darkness is covering him?" Kouji answers, "Lucemon's dark data was never scanned, it might be trying to take over his light data. That's my idea about it." Zoe nods and adds, "I don't want to deal with an other power hungry Digimon. What should we do?" They just look at each other, Guyver just looked lost at what to do. IceLeomon says, "I'm certain that you'll come up with something. I'll stand by what your idea." Guyver nods in agreement with what IceLeomon said.

Calamon floats over to where Lucemon is and then says, "Lucemon! Wake up!" They all watch, as Lucemon seems to open his eyes and look at Calamon. "Calamon? What are you doing here?" Lucemon asks in a weak voice. "I'm here with Takato, Kouichi, Kouji, IceLeomon, Guyver, and Zoe! We're here to help!" Calamon says to the rookie. He notices how when Calamon spoke Kouichi, Kouji, and Zoe's name that Lucemon looks like he was really scared. "But I didn't do anything wrong!" Lucemon cries out. He floats over and says to Lucemon in a calming voice, "You didn't do anything wrong. We're here to help you with your dreams." That calms Lucemon down. "I have these really bad dreams where another me does really bad things. I've seen what the other me does to Kouichi. I see how Kouichi disappears and the other me takes his data. Make it stop Takato! Make it stop!" Lucemon cries out and begins to cry himself. He moves closer to the angel rookie and gives him a hug. He opens his wings and uses them like a cloak; his wings cover Lucemon like a blanket. "It's ok to be scared Lucemon. It's how we deal with being scared that should matter. We're not here to judge you, Lucemon. We're here to help, if you let us." He says to Lucemon.

He looks at Calamon, who's come closer to him and Lucemon. "Remember what I said about Takato's partner, Guilmon? Guilmon always helps me! Just think about him!" Calamon says to Lucemon. Lucemon nods his head. And then something happens and he finds himself human.

He looks to find Kouji and the others also here; they were also staring at him. He sighs and looks around the park. He then looks at Calamon who grins and yells out, "Guilmon! I'm here!" And soon Guilmon comes running up the stairs that lead to the shed. "Calamon! Takatomon! Kouichi!" Guilmon says and Lucemon moves out of his hug and look at Guilmon. Guilmon stops and look at Lucemon and then looks at Takato, "Who's that?" He grins and says, "I told you about Lucemon. And the guy that's standing with Kouichi is Kouji, Kouichi's twin brother. The Digimon that looks like a white vision of Leomon is IceLeomon. The other Digimon is Guyver and the last person is Zoe." Guilmon looks at each in turn and then says, "Did they all come to play?" He and everybody kind of laughs at that. "I don't know, boy. Maybe you should just play with Calamon and Lucemon right now. I'll join in later, ok?" He says to his partner. "Ok! What to play in the fountain?" Guilmon asks the other two. Lucemon nods and they head back down the stairs.

He watches the group of Digimon leave and then turns to the others. "So this is what you look like. Nice goggles." Kouji says. He grins and says, "Yip, this is what I look like. So, anybody got any ideas?" "I think that his dark data is using Lucemon's memories to take over. We might have to walk him through them." Zoe says after five minutes. "I think that she's right. Lucemon needs to come to terms with what happened last time. It might be holding off right now, but who know how long until it pushes itself again? So how do we approach this?" Kouji asks. "First I think we should let them play, and then I'll bring it up. I think it's better if I do it. He doesn't have any memories with me in them. So, let's just relax." He tells the others. They nod and they all look around and then sit down. He lies under a tree. He plans on relaxing first, then joining their games. He only hopes that Lucemon will be ready to handle what's about to happen.

After relaxing for about an hour, he gets up and says, "I'm going to check out what they're doing, anyone want to come?" Kouichi gets up and says, "I'm up for a game or two." So, as Kouichi and him are about to leave the others get up and Zoe says, "We're going to look around, ok?" He nods and they go to find Guilmon and the others.

They hear laughter and they find Guilmon running around with his eyes closed, trying to tag either Lucemon or Calamon. "Hey you guys, need two more?" Kouichi asks them. Guilmon opens his eyes and then all together they say, "Yes!" Then Guilmon runs up to him and tags him, "Your it, Takatomon!" Kouichi and Guilmon run off, leaving him surprised and then he catches after them. Soon he tags Calamon and Calamon's it.

They played for about two full hours and they notice that the sun was going down. He sighs and looks at the others, they all look tired, but they were happy. He motions to Lucemon to follow him, and Lucemon does. They walk for until they find the play equipment.

"You need to come to terms with those memories of yours." He says to the rookie. Lucemon looks away, he sighs. "Deep down you knows that they are memories, but they're just that, memories." He tells Lucemon, Lucemon looks at him with a surprised look on his face. "But they're so real." Lucemon says to him. He nods, adding, "That's because those things had happened. They can't affect you unless you want them too. We all have our dark moments, Lucemon. It's just yours lasted longer. You get to decide on how others will see you. You don't want them to forever see just a kid, right? You want to grow up. That's why the memories are surfacing now, Lucemon. You are Digivolving, you're growing up. That's also why some of your old data is gathering, right?" He looks Lucemon in the eye. Lucemon breaks eye contact first. "Why now? Why not in a year or sometime later? Why can't I just be a kid longer?" Lucemon asks him. He sighs and says, "You will always be a kid to Seraphimon. He's your parent and parents are the ones that'll always see you as a little kid. And you think that it also has to do with Calamon and myself?" He waits for Lucemon to think it over. "I guess with Calamon, he's helping me to be on the right track and that you're here to help me with my memories. But I don't want either of you to leave!" Lucemon says. "If I can create other doors to this one place, I'll bring Guilmon and Calamon to visit you. I don't really want our good byes to be final yet, Lucemon. Your like a younger cousin, and I like to visit my family. No matter what changes you'll go through, I'll still think of you as my cousin and if you're my family, then so is Guilmon. It's time to understand what happened to you in your first life, Lucemon. And I'll be right here for you, too. You don't need to be scared of memories for they have already happened and are in the past. You trust me, so trust me on this, cousin. Just believe in me and it'll help." He says to Lucemon and Lucemon looks him in the eye and then nods. Lucemon holds out his hand and he takes it.

He sees flashes of images and sounds, but throughout it all, he held on to Lucemon's hand. It continued to get harder to hold on to Lucemon, but he manages it. The images and sound were soon joined with feelings. Knew them and also knew that they weren't his, but how Lucemon had felt back then. Soon he sees just how Lucemon was defeated, about how the dark data tried to destroy Takuya and the others. Then the memories are finished and he finds himself still holding onto Lucemon's hand.

He looks around to find himself and the others back at the keep. And then he looks into Lucemon's eyes and Lucemon nods his head. He lets go of Lucemon, and he step backs and watches as Lucemon begins to Digivolve into a champion.

To be continued …


	24. Chapter 24

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 24

He and the others just stand there; watching as the light finally disappears. Now they stare at Lucemon as a champion. Lucemon looks nervous under their stares. "So, how do I look?" Lucemon asks, sounding more like a like a young guy then before. "Different." Calamon says. They nod in agreement at the new Lucemon.

Lucemon now stood over five and half feet tall, but wasn't as tall as he himself. Now Lucemon was wearing a light blue hoody, with the silver symbols of Star and Eclipse. Add the fact that he now has a pair of white jeans. Lucemon's hair now had red highlights. He's eye color was now a darker shade of blue. Lucemon was now wearing sandals. He had golden bracelets still. His four pairs of wings also have a golden tinge to the edge of the feathers. He was also tanner then before. All in all, Lucemon was a handsome young Digimon. He looked more mature but still was young looking. Lucemon's still has the same purple tattoos as before.

"You look good, cousin." He says simply after watching Lucemon squirm for about two minutes. "You think so?" Lucemon asks, hopefully. "Takato's right, you look fine. Let's find you a mirror, so you can look for yourself." Zoe says. She then leads Lucemon and Calamon out of the room. They move out of the way and watch them go.

Then a thought hit him, and he asks, "Hey, Kouji, what time is it?" "It's eight twenty four … pm." Kouji says as he looks at his watch. "You mean we spend all day getting to this room?" Kouichi says. "We also spend the afternoon in that dream world of mine, too. So, it's supper? And I better find Seraphimon! See you later guys!" He says as he races out of the room.

(V)(V)(V)

He also thinks about something as Takato races out of the room. "Did the Digimon reappear? And if so, shouldn't we be looking for Takuya and the others, you know to make certain that their ok?" He asks the remainder of the group. "Guyver and I shall go and report to Cherubimon or Orphanimon. You two can go look for the other Digidestine." IceLeomon tell them, and Guyver nods his head. "Let's go!" He says as he takes his brothers arm and heads to the right after they leave the room. Guyver and IceLeomon head to the left.

They soon found Takuya in his room looking confused. "Hey! When did you guys get here? I though you'd send a message first!" Takuya states, after he finishes putting on his hat and goggles. "We got here a bit before noon. It's about eight thirty at night, Takuya." Kouji says to Takuya. Takuya just blinks and sits down on the bed. "You mean that a whole day has passed and I didn't even know?" Takuya asks them after a minute of thinking about it. "Sadly, yes. Also Lucemon Digivolved." He tells Takuya. They just watch Takuya's reaction to the new. "So, are we going to have a party or something? I mean this is an important event! Besides, I'm starved!" Takuya states to Kouji and him.

On the mention of food, both his and his twin's stomachs growls. They look embarrassed about that.

(V)(V)(V)

He finds Seraphimon heading to the kitchen. "Hey Seraphimon! We need to talk!" He says after he slows down. Seraphimon looks at him and he just knew that Seraphimon was surprised to see him. "I thought you were do later today, Takato." Seraphimon states to him. They both stop and then he sighs and says, "It's been a day already, Seraphimon. Others and my group tried to report in this morning. I told Wizardmon to tell the others that Kouji, Kouichi, Zoe, IceLeomon, Guvyer, and I would investige. It's been a day, sir." He tells the mega level angel Digimon.

Seraphimon doesn't answer right away, and after ten minutes, Seraphimon asks, "Then what happened?" "I don't really know, but when we got here, we found the city covered with these strains. Ice attacks were the safest way to break the strains. We spend about four hours, making our way to the keep. It turns out that Lucemon was the source of it. Don't worry though. Lucemon was just having problems with his old memories. I help him through it and he's now a champion. He's with Zoe and Calamon. I thought you should know before you went looking for him." He tells Lucemon's dad.

There was just a really long silents and it was only broken when both of their stomach reminded them that they haven't eaten supper. Or in Seraphimon's case any meal all day. "I believe I'll call for a feast for tonight. I hope you don't mind helping out in the kitchen." Seraphimon says. He shook his head, and says, "I don't mind."

It took the kitchen working at full strength to have food ready within the hour. Digimon all over Avalon's Gate had heard about how they ended up missing a whole day so some weird happening. They also heard about Lucemon Digivolution. So, when Lucemon appeared at the feast, all the Digimon that live in Avalon's Gate were in attendees, they all got a good look at Lucemon's new form. Lucemon got many congratulations for many different Digimon. He could tell that Lucemon was still shy because of everything that has happened and for what he now remembers. He knew that it wouldn't go to Lucemon's head.

As the feast whines down, Takato thinks over the doorway spell he memorized, even if he couldn't use it he didn't know when he'd have time to go back to that room. He thinks about Rika and the others that are living at the Tendo's, he wonders what they're doing right now. He was a Digimon, but that didn't really bug him as much as it used to. He smiles as he remembers the first time he realized that he was a Digimon. He looks over to where Ranamon was. He was lucky that he had already had the pleasure of her company tonight. Ranamon was currently talking to IceLeomon. If he's not mistaken, it looks like Ranamon was showing more then a passing interest in IceLeomon. And if so, he wishes Ranamon luck with IceLeomon for it seems that IceLeomon wasn't interested in Ranamon like that, and it'll take Ranamon sometime to convince him other wise.

"So, the portal's almost repaired. It'll be ready in two days time." Orphanimon says from behind him. He turns and looks at the angel mega and asks, "Have you told Takuya and the other?" "Not yet, I thought it best to tell you first. You plan on leaving when it does?" Orphanimon asks. "I guess I have to, they must be really worried about me. I also have some letters to deliverer, too. Are you letting Takuya and the others come with me when Calamon and I leave?" He asks after two minutes. "With Lucemon as he am, I believe that they can. With Lucemon more powerful, it'll balance out the world while they're gone." Orphanimon says softly. He nods his head, getting kind of a picture of what the mega was talking about. "You know, it's going to be odd not seeing three moons in the sky. I could always tell if I'm dreaming by just looking up to the night sky. I hope to visit after every things said and done. I made a promise to Lucemon that I would and I really want to keep that promise." He says to Orphanimon. "I plan on creating another doorway to that dimension that the Hazard made." He added to clarify how he plans on visiting. "That's comforting to know. I wish you luck with that. The announcement will be tomorrow, so get some sleep. It's going to be a long two days." Orphanimon says and he nods in agreement with that statement. He watches as she leaves, and he gets up and heads for his room. Hoping that Guilmon might be up for a game of War. He didn't feel like playing tag at the moment.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks over at where Takato and Lucemon were saying their goodbyes. He had already said his goodbyes to the friends that he made. They all voted to go with Takato and Calamon. He looks over to where Calamon was sleeping. Calamon and Lucemon had been up all night playing and now the little in-training Digimon was asleep on his brother's head. He could tell that Kouji didn't really mind. It was an image like that he wishes that he had a camera to take a picture of it. Takuya was with Tommy talking to Guyver about stuff. He finds Zoe talking with Ranamon and IceLeomon. He had been surprised that Ranamon hadn't tried to flirt with Takato one last time. Plus he noticed that Ranamon seems to sticking close to IceLeomon as well. J.P. was handing out the last of his candy and popcorn.

Takato finishes and walks over to the portal and takes out his D-ark.

(V)(V)(V)

He finishes talking with Lucemon and then walks over to the portal; he takes out his D-ark and thinks about the Dire. He casts his first spell in front of everyone. He makes contact with the Dire, he tell the Dire that he's bringing friends and that she should try to highlight the way back to Ranma's reality. She agrees and will try her hardest to, he thanks her. The connection breaks but he didn't feel overly tired.

He looks over at Guyver and nods. Then he steps through the portal and finds himself in that tunnel again. He sees a greenish line and knows that it's the Dire's way of showing him where to go. He watches as Guyver and Mane walk through the gate and as the tunnel in front changes and becomes a portal. He watches as the remainder of the GL army passes through.

When the last Digimon walks through the portal, Takuya and the others walk through. With one last nod at each other, Guyver walks through the portal. Now it's just the Digidestine, Calamon, and himself. He turns and follows the green line. He hears the others behind him as he walks.

They soon push their way were the green line becomes a circle. He opens his wings without thinking about it and watches as the others drop about half a foot. He looks around and finds that they're in the park closest to the Tendo's. He hears sounds very clearly and hopes that he'll get use to it. He watches as the Digidestine talk and he flies higher until he could see beyond the trees. The sight just makes him want to find a forest far from people. He was going to have trouble getting use to the sights, smells, and sounds of the city.

He lands a mile away from where they landed and he then hears something among the trees, he looks around, feeling nervous. He then hears, "Diamond Storm!" He dodges the attack, surprised to have that attack aimed at him. He blocks a punch without really thinking about it. He doesn't throw one of his own though. He looks around for Rika, for where Renamon was, Rika wasn't far behind. He blocks or dodges a series of punches and kicks. It didn't cross his mind to tell Renamon just who he was; he didn't think that the yellow fox would believe him.

Soon he hears something move and he dodges without a second thought. He finds Gatomon around where he had been. The he leaps to his right and then back. He finds more Digimon joining the battle. He was beginning to wonder just where their partners are, and he looks up to see a purple dragon trying to ram him. He didn't know just what really surprised him, the fact that he has never seen a Digimon like that or that he was now facing off against five Digimon. He knows there's five and not just four. He didn't really know how, but he just knew.

It was as the purple Digimon landing did Calamon show up. "Hey! I FOUND HIM!" Calamon yells out and the other Digimon turn to watch as Kari, Rika, and Davis come onto the site with Takuya and the Digidestine that he walked through the portal with. Calamon flies over to him and land on his head. He also watches as a black Veemon appears by Davis's side.

"What game were you playing? It must have been tag, huh Takato?" Calamon ask him. "Kind of, Calamon. Kind of." He says. He watches as the other Digimon just stand there, looking shocked at what he just said.

"Takato?" Rika asks as she steps forward. "Hi Rika. I can explain." He says. "Yip! And now we just need Guilmon, and this'll be even better!" Calamon says. Everyone but Takuya's group just stared at him with a look of disbelief. "So, nice tail." The black Veemon says to him and he just doesn't know what else to say.

"I think we better get back to the Dojo. So, let's get going. We do have to get back to school, you know." Rika says and she leads the way out of the park. Takuya and the others from Lucemon's reality look at him and he shrugs and follows. The Digimon were the last to follow the humans.

To be continued …


	25. Chapter 25

Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon or Ranma 1/2

---------------------------------------------------------

'_Thoughts'_

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 25

They make it to the Dojo. It looks pretty much as he remembers it. They walk through the front gate and Kasumi comes to greet them. So does some other Digimon that he doesn't remember living here. Calamon had moved to Davis's head and he could tell that the black Veemon kept looking at Calamon. The whole group had mostly been walking in silences, though Tommy did point at things and ask questions about the different buildings. Davis had answered his questions in a distracted way. He wonders if Davis was thinking that it was his fault that he became a Digimon. He hopes not, he didn't feel like he wants to talk Davis out of it. He also wonders just what the dark Veemon was doing walking by Davis. He could understand Veemon walking on the other side. _'Didn't Guvyer say something about Davis getting another partner? So, this must be Kage, the KageVeemon. Ok, so what is that purple dragon Digimon?'_

He gets snapped out of his thoughts as Kasumi asks, "Where Takato and Guilmon?"

(V)(V)(V)

She looks at Takato, the black dragon that their partners had fought. She didn't see how this Digimon was Takato, but it was. She really wishes that Tai and the others had mentioned that Takato was a Digimon. It wouldn't have been as embarrassing to have your partner attack someone who's a good friend.

"Hi, Kasumi, it's been a while." Takato says. She notices that Dash and Cassandra were also here with the other Digimon. "That's you, Takato?" Terriermon asks. "I Bio Merged with Guilmon and didn't unmerge before I landed in their Digital World." Takato explains. She looks over at the new girl as she answers, "We thought that he was this Digimon that we got a warning about. Also, I'm Zoe Orimoto." The next one to introduce themselves was the youngest member of the group, "I'm Tommy Himi. It's nice to meet you."

Takato says, "The one with the hat and goggle combo is Takuya Kanbara. The tall guy is J.P. Shibayama. Kouji Minamoto is one with the bandana and the one standing next to him is his twin, Kouichi Kimura." Everyone, including the Digimon look at Kouji and Kouichi. "So, you're the ones that visited my brother and the others. I'm Kari Kamiya; I'm Tai's younger sister. We talked to Tai and the others but they didn't warn us about Takato being, well, who know." She says. Davis nods in agreement with her.

"I'm Kasumi Tendo, and I welcome you to the Dojo." Kasumi says to the others. "Also, where are your partners?" Kasumi adds, looking around for Takuya and that group's partners. "We don't have partners. We'll show you guys later; you might have trouble recovering from the shock. Yolei took about forty minutes to get a grip on when Kouji showed her. So, it's best if it's saved until later." Kouichi tells them.

Now everybody was interested in just what could cause someone to take that long to recover. Rika looks at her watch and say, "We better get going. We can finish up later. See ya, and Takato, we're going to have one long talk later." Davis and her follow Rika to school. Hoping that Rika didn't hurt Takato too much. Happosai has left the country just to get away from Rika. Happosai had left a day after the beating. And they haven't heard anything from him since. Davis was told about the whole thing. She wonders about something, though. If Takato was the only one incontrol, then where's Guilmon?

(V)(V)(V)

He sighs as he sits down on the roof. He had gotten away from Cassandra, she and Izzy were working on a portal to get back to the GL territories. Cassandra was a Butterflymon and he didn't want to be examined, he wanted a place to practice his spells. He didn't want to leave the Dojo for the simple fact that he didn't want to be stared at. He sighs and began a spell.

He stops when he knew that two Digimon seem to be watching him. He doesn't see them, but he could guess on who they were, Kage and Renamon. He didn't really know just why he knew they were there, but thought that it had something to do with Guilmon. He does remember that Guilmon could always pick up on Renamon being around. _'It seems that I inherited that gift as well. So, now what?'_ He thought as he sits on the roof.

(V)(V)(V)

He was talking to Tentomon, Gatomon, Patamon, Wormon, and Sky, that's what Davis's first partner decided to call himself, about their reality. He got the feeling that they're home sick. He, too, was worried about what his mom might think if the Digital World where he's from couldn't send him back to the right time. It turns out; Orphanimon and them could do it. It was automatic and gave everyone some peace of mind that their parents weren't worried.

Everyone else was watching TV in the Dojo. "You know, I don't know just what to think of Takato. I mean I've never met a human that became a Digimon. It's doesn't seem normal." Gatomon says. He sighs, wondering what they'll think when they find out the reason why they accepted the fact that Takato's a human stuck as a Digimon.

He looks up to find Kasumi beginning to set the table. "Do you want any help?" He asks. The Digimon had decided to go and see what Takato's doing. Kasumi nods her thanks and he gets up and helps Kasumi.

(V)(V)(V)

He was getting bored; Renamon and him had decided to watch Takato, if it really was Takato. So far, Takato didn't seem to be doing anything. He was also getting hungry and knew it was close to lunch. It was then did something happen and he couldn't help but blink.

He finds Patamon, Wormon, Gatomon, Tentomon, and Sky on the roof already talking to Takato. He didn't know where they come from, and he was just plain confused. He wonders if he was so bored that he zoned out. He sighs and leaves the roof and heads to the kitchen and finds one of the new arrivals; Kouichi if he remembers rightly, was helping Kasumi out. He didn't know just what to think about this new Digidestine.

He appears behind Kouichi and says, "Helping out?" Kouichi gets startled at that. He doesn't get tired of it, he really like to do it to Renamon. "Yes, so what's Takato doing?" Kouichi ask him. "Me? How should I know?" He asks. "It's a guess, but I do believe you and Renamon had decided to spy on Takato. Trust me, that's Takato. I even meet Guilmon." Kouichi tells him as he heads to the table to set glasses onto the table. "What do you me, met Guilmon? I thought that when you Bio Merge that both are equal partners." He asks Kouichi. "When Takato sleeps, Takato goes to where Guilmon's at. In this dream world, I've visited twice. And I don't see what all the caution. So Takato's fused with Guilmon for a time, it's not really changing who he is." Kouichi tells him. He doesn't answer and he wonders just why these human's just don't get it.

(V)(V)(V)

He had decided on trying to use an illusion spell on Kage and Renamon. It was a small one and it worked, so he added it to the list of spells. He spends out an hour of casting spells. Then Patamon, Gatomon, Wormon, Tentomon, and Sky came up to visit him. He let go of the spell and he then listens to what they wanted to talk about. Mostly it was about how it feels to be a Digimon. He was hoping that he either learns how to Digivolve or gets Dire's help in performing the doorway to have a quite place to practice and to just read more about history. He also wonders how Izzy and Cassandra will take to hearing about that dimension.

They hear the call of lunch and he and the others get off the roof. He gives Wormon a lift off the roof.

(V)(V)(V)

She was looking for the others, waves to Henry and Ken. They walk over. "Takato's back and he brought some friends. Takato's changed." She could only get that far before T.K., Ryo, Rika, and Davis walked over. "Hey, so Rika says Takato's back. What did he look like?" Ryo asks. "He's got a different look to him and he brought with him some more Digidestine. We didn't see any partners though. Calamon looks happy to be back, though. They promise to show us the reason why they don't need partners. It also seems that it took Yolei about forty minutes to recover from the shock." She tells the others. Other then Rika and Davis, the others look stunned at the statement, they knew that Yolei was usually quick to recover from shock and now they wonder if whatever it is was that big.

They soon meet up with Izzy and Ranma with BlueMeramon walking with Suzie, Henry's little sister. "So, BlueMeramon says that Takato's back and he brought friends. I think NeoDevimon will be there already. I wonder just how much cousin Takato's grown." Ranma says. "He's grown alright, about six feet tall, I think." Davis says.

They continued to walk, each having there own thoughts.

(V)(V)(V)

They all stood in the yard, the introductions had been made and now he and the Legendary Warriors watch the reactions of the others. Kouji, Zoe, and Takuya had demonstrations of the different spirits. Kouji did human spirit, Zoe did beast spirit, and Takuya did fusion.

Every body, besides the Legendary Warriors and him, were not doing much. It's also been fifteen minutes and Calamon was sleeping in Kouichi's arms. They haven't explained the whole elements yet. He wonders about Kari and Ken's reactions to Kouji and Kouichi being Light and Darkness. He knew that Ken, Kari, and T.K. had some really bad experiences with Darkness and he hopes that they'll look pass the whole idea and see Kouichi as he is.

He knew that everyone at lunch had expected for him to eat more food then what he did. He surprised himself as well, but he felt relief that he didn't have to eat as much as any of the Digimon around. After lunch he watched TV with the others in the Dojo. He also had taken out the letters for the Digidestine. He grins at the looks of amazement when his most of his right arm disappeared into his dimensional pouch.

He snaps out of his thoughts and looks to see Suzie standing before Takuya and poking him. It had been a full thirty minutes for them to recover and they began to ask questions to Takuya and the others. Kouji, Zoe, and Takuya turn back into humans and they tried to answer their questions. He watched as Tommy and Suzie began to talk. He didn't really listen to what was been said and he didn't really mind, for his thoughts went to Lucemon. He hopes can create a new doorway, he even thought up a name for the dimension. He had decided on Gate Way of Life, for that's what lies within it. Different realities and what their life before the Hazard searched their world. He hopes that it's a good name for that place. And knew that if it works, he could keep in touch with everybody that he's met. The different worlds, like where Lucemon is, the Digidestine's world, and the Dire.

(V)(V)(V)

She asks Renamon where Takato was, and her partner points to some shade. She nods her thanks, and walks over. Her feelings were mixed, she's happy to see him, but didn't know if he still felt the same way. She looks at his form, taller then her and with a red Hazard symbol on his crest. She notices a far away look to in his eyes.

She stands there for two minutes before saying, "So, you're not a goggle head." She knew it sounded lame, but it worked. "Hey Rika. Sorry, I was thinking about some stuff. So, what do you think?" Takato asks. _'He sounds older. Is he even a rookie?'_ She thinks as she looks at him. "So, what level? I didn't want to ask in front of everyone." She states. "Rookie, mostly Virus. I can do some real damage if I set my mind to it. How have things with you?" Takato asks. "I go to school and mostly hang with Kari. How do you know that your mostly virus?" She asks, and then watches as Takato's right hand goes into his pouch. Then looks surprised when Takato pulls out his D-ark. Then information flashes on his D-ark.

**Drakemon**

Rookie level Digimon

Mostly Virus type

Humanoid Dragon. Attacks are Black Fire and Black Fire Storm.

Then the image flashes out. She watches as Takato clips on his black belt. "So, you're a Drakemon. Have you Digivolved yet?" She ask, wanting know more. Her nervousness vanishing. "Nope, I think I'll be doing that yet. I'm pretty powerful. I also found out some stuff about Guilmon, too." Takato tells her. "Like what?" She asks, and he begins, "Has Dash, Cassandra, Puck, or Kage talk about this Hazard?" She shook her head, Takato continues, "It turns out that it been around for like forever. It would split itself up and invade other realities. The ones that became rookies and champions were cunning. The ultimates and mega levels were devastating, they were the destroyers. The Hazard would sometimes lose interest in some realities, so it would create this gateway to this pocket dimension. Then it would leave, and find some other reality to search through." Takato looks over to where their friends were. Lost in thoughts, she lets him. She was trying to understand just where this was leading.

Then Takato continues after about three minutes, "The Hazard was searching out its partner. In time it grow tired of searching and destroying along the way. In a reality, some Digimon found away to capture its essence. The Hazard let the Digimon think that they could keep it from its freedom. With each splinter of the Hazard that they captured, they slowly made the Hazard whole. Then they finish; the Hazard was whole for the first time in ages. Then I called to it, I gave it a new shape." She looks over at him, surprised and finally understanding what Takato was talking about. "You shaped it into Guilmon. The Hazard and Guilmon are the same." She states, Takato nods. "It's true. We met up with a Stalker named Guyver. He was an unofficial expert on the Hazard. It's weird to think that the Hazard was looking for me. It's not my fault about any of it or Guilmon's. It happened and I hope to stop it from happening again." Takato says. She was now sitting on his right and was thinking about what Takato has told her.

They remain sitting there for about ten minutes, and then they heard Nabiki yell something about supper here. They got up and headed to where the food was. Takato and her holding hands, as they go.

(V)(V)(V)

It was Thursday evening; the ones that were going to school had arrived. They didn't get a chance to tell their story on how they saved the Digital World or about the war they fought. So, they now plan on continuing were they left off.

He looks over at Ken and did feel something coming from Ken's neck. He notices that Kari and Kouji had kept glancing at each other this morning, before they left for school. Takato had left to talk to the Dire, Calamon and the other Digimon had been playing card games, mostly Poker and Go Fish. Tommy and him had played a few rounds of Poker with the Digimon.

Then they, with Takato to guide them around, went sight seeing. It had been fun looking around. Different then when they went to Tai and the other Digidestine world. They were going by Legendary Warriors, for Kari, Ken, T.K., Davis, and Izzy were being called Digidestine and Henry, Suzie, Rika, Ryo, and Takato were Tamers.

Now Takuya and Zoe were explaining about their different spirits. They hadn't even begun to tell their story or listened to Davis's. "So, Takuya's Fire, Zoe's Wind, Tommy's Ice, J.P.'s Lightning, and Kouji's Light?" Henry asks. Zoe nods and then adds, "Kouichi's Darkness." He tenses when Zoe says it. Everyone that didn't know that turns to look at him, his twin puts a comforting hand on his left shoulder.

After looking him for four minutes, Takato says, "He's Darkness, not evil." He feels a lot better when Takato said that. "Ok, so just what is the story on how you guys first got your spirits?" T.K. asks.

And so Takuya begins the story and they added their parts.

(V)(V)(V)

It's been ten days; the Legendary Warriors and him were going to school. They started on the next Monday, and had been wearing bulky cloths to cover what he looks like. He did get odd stares but nobody really pressed him for they were scared of Rika.

It's Sunday and he had gotten better at spell casting. He also had been talking with Dire about her helping him with the doorway that will be created. He hopes that it's enough. Izzy and Cassandra had been coming up with ways to separate Guilmon and him. BlueMeramon, GrapLeomon, and NeoDevimon were also going to be helping with the portal. He now has twelve spells and he knew that this would be tough. He looks to where Kouji, Kouichi, and Zoe were, they decided to be here. He had kept what he plans to do a secret and Rika was keeping her eyes on everyone else.

He finished the wards and the lines with the right symbols. The lines were to outline the building and the wards were to help with how high the building was. He might not have gotten the right size, but that shouldn't matter. He stands at the south side of where the wall, BlueMeramon was at the north. NeoDevimon was standing where the west side and finally GrapLeomon was standing where the east side.

He then began the spell, he didn't chant or do any thing with his hands. All he had to do was shape the energy into different symbols then to focus these into the work he set up. In time he could do this without using anything but his will, but he right now, he needed to go through this using the wards, lines, and symbols.

(V)(V)(V)

He stood with Zoe, his brother, and Dire shaped as a young woman. He and the others were awed with just how gigantic the Dire was. He hopes to have time to explore some of this world, for it was so different then anything that he's been to. The fact that all the Digimon live among the branches of the Dire and not anywhere else was such an oddity. He and many of the others have talked to Kasumi about where she been and what she's seen.

The Tamers and Digidestine had explored the closest landmass, but didn't go any farther. He knew that nothing's supper important was coming yet. He knew that they plan to go where this Anchor is and to find away to unlink all the realities that were linked to it. It's going to be tough and in two months was summer vacation and they could then try their hand at it.

After he watches for two hours, something began to shimmer and then the three leaders of the Dire's children began to help by creating a gate. He and the others stare at what's taking place. Then they see this building and then it seems to disappear, but the wards that Takato set up were gone and that means that Takato did it. They see that Takato had collapsed and they run to make check up on him.

"He's exhausted. Then again, I'm not feeling too energetic myself." GrapLeomon states tiredly. Kouji and him pick up Takato and then look at the Dire shaped as a teenager. "So, it worked?" Zoe asks the teenager. "Yes, it did. I can feel the difference here. I hope that he recovers quickly. I'll open the portal back to Ranma's world." Dire says to them and a portal opens. They walk through the portal.

Rika greets them with Renamon, Rika asks, "So, how did it go?" "It worked. If Takato's feeling up to it, we could maybe check it out tomorrow, after school. "I think you'd be amazed at just what that dimension has. It's where I found out that the Dark Ocean is really old. There's even information about other Digimon that haven't been seen." He says, Rika nods and then she asks, "When will we tell the others about it?" He looks over at Zoe and then at his brother. Zoe answers, "Tomorrow would be best. Let's get Takato some place to rest." Rika nods again and then leads them to a place for Takato to rest.

(V)(V)(V)

She looks at the spot where Takato had flown up to and then after about two minutes five ropes comes down. She looks at the others and watches as Kouji and Kouichi take hold of two ropes and begin to climb. Soon Takuya, Dash, and Rika begin to climb up. Thoughs that could fly did so. Davis with his two partners, J.P., Tommy, Suzie, and Puck had decided to stay at the Dojo with Nabiki. Kasumi and NeoDevimon had gone exploring. Now it's her turn to climb. Gatomon and the other Digimon that couldn't fly were the last ones up.

She watches as Takato, Kouji, and Kouichi brought up the ropes, but left them tied up. Ranma passes out the flashlights, and then T.K. opens the door. They walk in and Takato closes the door behind him.

They walk to the ninth level and find LoreApemon waiting. She looks at the odd Digimon and knew that they were welcome here. She smiles as Takato introduces them and then they split up, Izzy and Cassandra with Takato and Tentomon when off with LoreApemon down to some other level. They all began to explore the rooms, though Zoe, Kouji, Kouichi, and Takuya head down to a level they left off with.

She wonders just what she'll find in these old books and scroll. She smiles as she finds a room and then looking at the books, she picks on up and sits down and begins to read it.

(V)(V)(V)

They headed to find lab and Cassandra and Izzy begin to look through the equipment. "This'll work! We can get you and Guilmon unfused within the hour." Cassandra says. She turns to look at Izzy and they nod and begin to turn on the stuff.

He sits with LoreApemon and Tentomon as they watch as Izzy and Cassandra talk to each other. He was still tired and lying his down on the table, he takes a nap.

He finds Guilmon sleeping in the shed and doesn't go wake him. He just sits there, enjoying the sight. Hoping that when he wakes that Izzy and Cassandra will have everything's ready.

He wakes after an hour, "Ready Takato?" He hears Izzy ask him. He yawns and nods. He stretches out his wings to their fullest, then refold them. He walks to where Izzy waves his hand to and he then waits. The equipment begins to light up and then he feels like something being ripped from him.

He opens his eye and sees a white background and then some red mass becoming Guilmon. He smiles at his partner and Guilmon looks comforted. "Takatomon!" Guilmon yells as the space begins to unravel. "I'll see you soon, boy!"

And then he finds himself on the floor. He looks to his right to find Guilmon there. He sighs and sits up, he looks at his hand to find it not black and clawed. He moves his hand to where his goggles were and finds them there. He's human! He just sat there, looking at Guilmon as Guilmon begins to stir. He soon finds himself crying and when Guilmon beginnings his head up, he give Guilmon a huge. "I'm so happy! I really missed you, boy!" He says as huges Guilmon. "But, Takato, we saw each other lots of times!" Guilmon tells him, using his name without the mon. "I know, boy. But it always seemed so unreal. I'm so happy to have you here, out of that dream world." He says. Guilmon then says, "I'm happy too. Do you have anything to eat? I'm hungry." He laughs at that and lets go of Guilmon. He stands and so does Guilmon. "I think we can find some place that has food. Thanks you guys. I'll see you later." He says and then leads Guilmon up some stairs, thinking about the level where the trees were.

As they head up to the level, Guilmon then asks, "Takatomon, where are we?" He answers without stopping, "We're in Gate Way of Life." "Ok." Guilmon says. He puts his hand into his right pocket and feels something in it. He takes it out and looks at it. It's black leather bracelet with red fire designs on it. He looks to the inside of it and sees the Hazard symbol. He nows that this is what LoreApemon meant by the way to be Drakemon again. He puts it on his right wrist and then finds that they're close to the right level. He smiles as he looks around, and Guilmon races pass him to eat some berries from the grove of trees that's right in front of him.

He actives the bracelet and feels the weight of his wings and he then deactives it. He then sits to watch as Guilmon comsumes more berries, and has a smile on his face. He knows that for the time being, he was finally whole once more. He wants to savor the feeling, for he didn't know what the future might bring, but he wanted to remember this and some many other moments with Guilmon, who's half of his being.

**To Readers:**

Thanks for reading my third story! I want to thank all those that reviewed my story and hope that my fourth story will met up with your thoughts. I hope that you are patient, I'll try to get the first chapter for my four posted by next Monday. And to let you know, Takato will be Digivolving in the next story. Good Bye for now!


End file.
